Out-of-control train sends 1,000 passengers rolling for miles after carriages detached

Authorities believe brakes were not applied when locomotive was removed

A runaway train carrying up to 1,000 passengers rolled for several miles without power before crashing into rocks placed on the track to stop it, according to reports.

Twenty-two carriages were temporarily detached from their locomotive in India’s north-eastern Odisha state and authorities believe their brakes were not applied, causing the train to roll away downhill from Titlagarh towards Kesinga.

No passengers were injured, The Indian Express reported, but several members of railway staff have been suspended.

The railways ministry said on Twitter the runaway Ahmedabad-Puri train was “an isolated incident of staff negligence that is sincerely regretted”, adding a “high-level enquiry” had been ordered following the incident on Saturday.

It said it was “committed to ensuring highest levels of safety”.

Footage posted online showed the red-and-grey carriages rolling through a station as people on the platform tried frantically to communicate with passengers.

The train rolled for about eight miles over half an hour before being brought to a halt at Kesinga station, Indian media reported.

An East Coast Railway spokesman told The Indian Express: “When an engine is detached to be attached at the other end, coaches should be secured with wheel skid brakes.

“In this case, it appears that skid brakes were not placed properly. Facts will be known after a detailed enquiry.”

CNN cited East Coast Railway’s head of public relations, JP Mishra, as having suggested the number of passengers may have been closer to 500.

A month-long safety drive will take place across the country’s rail network “for sensitising the staff regarding the precautions to be taken to prevent such incidents”, the ministry added.

Some 22 million people commute on India’s trains every day, according to the BBC.

In August last year, at least 20 people died when a train derailed in Uttar Pradesh, while a 2012 report found some 15,000 people were killed on India’s railways every year. Experts said that “no civilised society can accept such a massacre”.