- Friday, February 28, 2025
He was accompanied with other officials and the minister was also found telling them something apparently to encourage them.
By: Shubham Ghosh
Indian railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who reached the site of a triple-train accident in Bahanaga Bazar area in Balasore in the eastern state of Odisha on Friday (2) night, hours after the tragedy in which more than 270 people died, was seen praying on the sidelines on Sunday (4) as the first train moved on the restored train tracks that were badly damaged in the accident.
A video showed the west-educated minister folding his hands in prayer as a goods train loaded with coal moved. He was accompanied by other officials and the minister was also found telling them something apparently to encourage them.
“Down-line restoration complete. First train movement in section,” Vaishnaw, who is a parliamentarian from Odisha, himself tweeted the video.
Down-line restoration complete. First train movement in section. pic.twitter.com/cXy3jUOJQ2
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) June 4, 2023
He also posted another tweet saying the movement of train on the ‘up’ route had also started
Up-line train movement also started. pic.twitter.com/JQnd7yUuEB
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) June 4, 2023
The railway minister, who took over in July 2021, said, “Everyone has done a great job. I feel great sadness for the affected families but we will get to the root cause of the incident and whoever is responsible will be severely punished.”
Passenger trains were also gradually operating on the restored tracks, including the semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express, plying between Howrah in West Bengal and Puri in Odisha.
#WATCH | Indian Railways has started running passenger trains on the tracks which were affected due to #TrainAccident in Odisha’s Balasore pic.twitter.com/E9NTCv1ieO
— ANI (@ANI) June 5, 2023
The deadly crash that took place around 7.30 pm local time on Friday saw one speeding passenger train ramming into some derailed coaches of another which had hit a stationary goods train. The tragedy saw deaths of 275 people while more than 1,100 were injured.
Vaishnaw, who also met injured at hospitals along with India’s education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who hails from Odisha, and accompanied prime minister Narendra Modi when he visited the site to review the situation on Saturday (3).
The railway minister on Sunday said the “root cause” of the accident and the people responsible for it have been identified. The Indian Railways has also sought an investigation by the elite Central Bureau of Investigation as the opposition targeted the government over railway safety and demanded Vaishnaw’s resignation.
