Train derails outside India's financial capital

Several coaches of a train went off the rails in western India on Tuesday morning, the third such incident within ten days on the world's fourth biggest rail network, according to a Reuters report, but there have been no immediate reports of injuries.

The railway system is grappling with chronic underinvestment and overcrowding, and has suffered 1,011 deaths in 586 accidents over the last five years, ministry figures show.

The carriages of the Duronto Express derailed about 70 km outside Mumbai, the financial capital, near the end of a journey from the central Indian city of Nagpur, Central Railway said in a message on Twitter.

"There are no injuries to passengers," it added. "We are arranging buses to bring passengers to the destination."

Reuters went on to say that it was not immediately clear how many carriages ran off the rails, but local media put the figure at about half a dozen.

Last week, 42 people were injured after 11 coaches of the Kaifiyat Express, travelling to the capital, New Delhi, went off the rails after it hit a truck loaded with construction material.

On August 19th, 23 people were killed and a further 123 injured in a derailment near the Hindu holy city of Haridwar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, prompting the suspension of three senior railways officials, with others sent on leave.

Source: WAM