Train details at Bronx, New York - kills 4....

Sadly we read about train accidents and loss of lives, too frequently … in mid Nov. 2013, there was the accident at Ghoti near Igatpuri In Nashik when 4 passengers were killed and several injured with ten coaches of Mangla Express derailing.  Following the mishap, rail-traffic on the up side was affected, forcing railway authorities to cancel various trains, including Manmad-Kurla-Godavari Express and Manmad-Mumbai Panchavati Express. The mishap took place at dawn  when 12618 Nizamuddin-Ernakulam Mangala Express train was passing through the Ghoti-Igatpuri section. 

Thousands of miles away runs the Bronx rive, approximately flowing 40 kilo meters through south east New York in the US.  It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. The Bronx River is the only fresh water river in New York City. In the 17th century, the river - called by the natives "Aquehung" - served as a boundary between loosely associated bands under sachems of the informal confederacy of the Weckquaeskeck, Europeanized as the Wappinger. The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with Bronx County, it was the last of the 62counties of New York State to be incorporated. The Bronx is divided by the Bronx River into a hillier section in the west, closer to Manhattan, and the flatter eastern section, closer to Long Island.

Read about Bronx because of a train derailing just yards from the water's edge in New York City killing four people and injuring a further 63. According to reports, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed the death toll after the Metro-North passenger train came off the tracks at 7.20am (11.20pm AEDT) on Sunday near the Spuyten Duyvil station. Speaking at the scene of the crash in the Bronx Gov Cuomo said authorities believed everyone at the site had been accounted for and that the National Transportation Safety Board is en route. He said the train driver was among the injured.

According to the New York Daily News 12 of the injured were in a critical condition. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing passengers being stretchered away from the wreckage.  Footage from the crash site showed eight train cars, six of which had derailed. CNN reported a police source saying that at least two of the dead appeared to have been ejected from the train during the early morning crash. While no cause has been given for the crash the driver told investigators he tried to engage the train's brakes, but it didn't slow down, a law enforcement official on the scene told CNN.

The New York Post reported that a freight train hauling garbage derailed in about the same spot in July. A woman at the scene,  is quoted as saying that  numerous emergency vehicles have responded. The accident happened on the Sunday following Thanksgiving, which is traditionally a popular traveling day in the US with many families returning home from family visits.

Anything on train accident would veer us towards that ghastly accident at Ariyalur, nearer Trichy in 1956.  Lal Bahadur Shastri  identified himself with the Railways so much that he felt he was responsible if anything went wrong in his department.  A honourable person, he took moral responsibility for that accident and a couple of others, was so pained that he submitted his resignation letter to Pandit Nehru. 

With regards – S. Sampthkumar

1st Dec 2o13.