Track cracks might have led to N. India train derailment: railway official

Indian authorities Thursday said cracks in tracks might have led to the derailment of eight coaches of a fast passenger train in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in which at least 52 people were injured, but did not rule out any terror angle.

The derailment took place around 2:30 a.m. (local time) when the Jabalpur-Nizamuddin Mahakaushal Express was between Mahoba and Kulpahad railway stations in the state's Mahoba district, nearly 270 km from Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow.

"Prima-facie it seems that weld failure on the left side caused the derailment," junior Railway Minister Manoj Sinha told the media.

A senior police official in Lucknow said most of the 52 injured have been discharged from the hospitals after first aid. "Out of 52 injured, two suffered serious fractures and have been referred to a state-run hospital," additional state police chief Daljit Chaudhary told the media.

Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sent the state's Health Minister S.N. Singh to the site and asked him to supervise the rescue operations. "I am personally monitoring the relief and rescue operations," the minister told the media.

The health minister said anti-terror police will be part of the probe, indicating they are not ruling out any terror angle.

He also announced a compensation of 50,000 rupees (900 U.S. dollars) each to the seriously injured and 25,000 rupees (450 U.S. dollars) to those with minor injuries.

The derailment disrupted movement of trains in the region. However, railway officials said that efforts were on to operationalise the rail traffic at the earliest.

The Indian Railways has not had a good start this year.

In January, an express train derailed in Vizianagaram district of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, killing 41 passengers and injuring over 60 others. And in March, nine people were injured following a blast in one of the coaches of a passenger train in central state of Madhya Pradesh.

One of the world's largest train networks, the Indian Railways criss-crosses the country from north to south, carrying 23 million passengers each day. However, train accidents are fairly common in India, where much of the railway equipment is out of date.

In 2015, the Indian government pledged investments of 137 billion U.S. dollars over five years to modernise and expand the railways. Endit