At least five people were killed and several others injured on Tuesday when a passenger train rammed into a stationary cargo train in central India, officials said. The collision occurred near Bilaspur, around 116 kilometers (72 miles) from Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh state.
According to senior government official Sanjay Agarwal, the local passenger train struck the freight train from behind, causing several coaches to derail and overturn. “Rescue teams are trying to cut through the train to take out a few passengers trapped inside,” Agarwal told the Associated Press.
Television footage from the scene showed mangled coaches and debris scattered along the tracks as emergency crews searched for survivors.
Indian Railways, the state-run operator, said in a statement that all available resources have been deployed to the site. The injured have been taken to nearby hospitals, and a formal investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched.
Train collisions are not uncommon in India, which operates one of the world’s largest rail networks. More than 12 million passengers travel daily across 64,000 kilometers of track. Despite recent safety upgrades and modernization efforts, the system continues to face challenges due to aging infrastructure, human error, and outdated signaling systems.
In 2023, India witnessed one of its worst rail disasters in decades when a crash in the eastern state of Odisha killed more than 280 people and injured hundreds, prompting calls for urgent reforms to rail safety.
Rescue operations in Bilaspur are ongoing, and authorities have warned that the death toll could rise as emergency teams work through the wreckage.