As of: March 1, 2024, 11:20 a.m
By: Maximilian Hertel
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The ghost train in India on February 25th had 53 wagons and was loaded with gravel.
(Symbolic image) © IMAGO / Ralph Peters
A freight train in northern India went on a ghost journey for one and a half hours with no staff on board.
The odyssey only stopped when the train reached an incline.
New Delhi - Railways are the most important long-distance transport system in India, carrying millions of passengers every day.
However, the system is outdated and dilapidated.
The government has already invested huge sums in modernizing train stations and signaling systems.
The need to modernize the existing infrastructure became clear as early as June 2023: at least 275 people died and hundreds of people were injured in one of the worst train accidents in India.
Now there has been another dangerous incident in which a 53-car freight train raced through northern India last Sunday (February 25) without a driver.
Ghost ride at 100 km/h – freight train sets up shop in northern India
In India, a freight train set off without a driver.
The state-run Indian Railways said on Monday that it had launched an investigation into the incident.
According to initial findings, the train loaded with gravel became independent at a train station in northern India on Sunday (February 25).
It was only after 70 kilometers that the ghost train could be brought to a halt.
The driverless train had rushed from the state of Jammu and Kashmir to Punjab at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
A video of the wandering was widely shared on online networks.
According to local media reports, the train had started moving from a railway station in Jammu where it had stopped for a personnel change.
After the train driver and his assistant got out, the train simply continued on the sloping route.
Freight train stopped with sandbags and wooden blocks
In order to prevent accidents, all level crossings on the route were closed.
After the one and a half hour ghost ride, the train was finally stopped on an incline by wooden blocks and sandbags on the tracks.
According to reports from the
Hindustan Times
and local authorities, no one was injured in the incident.
The train with its 53 wagons did not derail during the improvised stopping maneuver.
Accidents in train traffic occur again and again, including in Germany.
In the fatal train accident in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2022, damaged concrete sleepers were determined to be the main cause of the accident in which five people died.
In an incident in March 2023, in which a woman was dragged by a wagon in Nördlingen and seriously injured, the outdated railway wagon is also considered to be the cause of the accident.
(
mh/AFP
)