"At least 35 people are dead and 100 injured are being treated at the scene and in hospital," K.N. Joshi, the local district chief medical officer, told AFP. "Some people remain inside the carriages.
"I urged the Railway Board to give compensation of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively to families of persons who were killed and injured in the derailment," Roy said here.
At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured when 14 coaches of the Howrah-Kalka Express went off the rails in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh Sunday noon.
The train, carrying about 1,000 passengers, was bound for Kalka and was travelling at 108 km an hour when it went off the rails at Malwa station in Fatehpur, about 150 km from Lucknow.
"I contacted the chairman of Railway Board and higher officials just after receiving the news of the incident. They have been asked to ensure that special relief trains reach the place of the incident," he said.
He said helplines were already operating in Howrah and other stations to provide the necessary information.
The train accident in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh when a speeding Delhi-bound Kalka Mail derailed killing at least 35 people and injuring over 200 was the worst rail mishap this year.
Following is the chronology of major train accidents in the country since 2000:
Dec 3, 2000: Forty-six people were killed and over 130 injured as the Howrah-Amritsar Mail rammed into a derailed goods train between Sarai Banjara and Sadhugarh in Punjab.
June 22, 2001: Forty people were killed when the Mangalore-Chennai Mail fell into Kadalundi river near Kozhikode in Kerala.
January 5, 2002: 21 people were killed and 41 injured when the Secundarabad-Manmad Express train rammed into a stationary goods train at Ghatnandur station in Maharashtra.
May 12, 2002: Twelve people were killed when the New Delhi-Patna Shramjeevi Express derailed in Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.
June 4, 2002: Thirty-four were killed when the Kasgunj Express rammed into a bus at a rail crossing.
Sept 9, 2002: 100 passengers were killed and 150 hurt when a bogie of Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express plunged into Dhave river in Bihar's Aurangabad district.
Sept 10, 2002: 120 were killed when the Kolkata-New Delhi Rajdhani Express derailed over a bridge in Bihar.
May 15, 2003: Thirty eight passengers were killed and 13 injured when three coaches of the Amritsar-bound Frontier Mail caught fire.
June 22, 2003: 53 were killed and 25 injured when the Karwar-Mumbai Central Holiday Special train derailed after crossing Vaibhavwadi Station in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra.
July 2, 2003: A train engine and two adjoining coaches fell off a bridge in Warangal, killing 18 people.
"The prime minister has expressed deep sorrow and shock at the loss of lives caused by the accident at Malwa station involving the Kalka Mail," a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office said.
At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured Sunday when 14 coaches of the Kalka Mail ran off the rails in Uttar Pradesh, leaving many passengers trapped in the mangled mess.
The statement said the prime minister has instructed the ministry of railways that all available resources in the area be deployed for rescue and relief operations.
"The ministry of railways has already announced ex gratia relief to the next of kin of those killed and also to those injured in the accident," the statement added.
Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniyappa told the media before leaving for the disaster site that families of those killed will be given Rs.5 lakh and the seriously injured Rs.1 lakh.
Those with minor injuries would get Rs.25,000.
India's patchy railway safety record
By Soutik BiswasBBC News, Delhi
India's railway safety record is patchyIndian Railways, a state-run behemoth with over 1.4 million employees, aims to eliminate accidents by 2020.
But Monday's crash in West Bengal state - where 60 people died when a passenger train ploughed into another - shows it will not be easy to meet this goal.
The world's fourth largest railway network - over 63,000km (40,000 miles) long, just behind the US, Russia and China - continues to have a patchy safety record: there have been more than 1,000 accidents since 2004 alone.
The number of crashes may have declined - 177 in 2008-09, down from 320 in 2003-04, and an alarming 2,000 in 1960-61- but safety remains a pressing issue.
More than 200 people died in railway accidents in 2008-09. So far this year about 200 people have already died in accidents, the majority in a collision caused by suspected sabotage of tracks by Maoist rebels.
This despite a special $3.6bn (£2.4bn) railway safety fund to make travelling safer for more than 6bn passengers who every year use the transport network known as India's lifeline.
The money has been set aside to repair decaying tracks, bridges, signalling gear and rolling stock, among other things.
'Cause for concern'But an internal assessment by the railways admits that a substantial portion of the money remains unutilised - "a cause for concern".
Particularly worrisome, it says, is the "slow progress" of work on building railway bridges as well as upgrading and manning crossings across the country.
Indian railways carry some 6bn passengers every yearUnmanned railway crossings - there are nearly 17,000 - have been responsible for over a third of all railway accidents since 2004, and account for nearly 70% of the fatalities.
In some states, like West Bengal, they actually outnumber manned railway crossings.
Train collisions, such as the one on Monday, are also one of the main causes of accidents - there were 13 such crashes during 2008-09 and they led to a number of fatalities.
"Collisions remain a big danger and they are always caused by human failure, despite our fail-safe systems," says IIMS Rana, former chairman of the Indian Railway Board.
Railways officials say they have rolled out a locally made anti-collision device on more than 1,700km of tracks in north-eastern India. Improved devices are expected to roll out in the rest of the country.
But former railway officials like Mr Rana say that India still lags behind on anti-collision technologies, which are standard in the West.
They talk about a device which, once installed on a train, brings it to an automatic stop if it overshoots a red signal.
"We don't have such systems. Money is also a constraint," says Mr Rana.
Then there are accidents caused by trains coming off the tracks - there have been 550 since 2004. Derelict or ill-maintained tracks are to blame.
SabotageSabotage of tracks is also becoming an alarming and relatively new cause of accidents - a lot of networks run through territory where India's Maoist rebels have a presence, and the insurgents have been known to remove track fish-plates.
Trains often come off the tracksSabotage, in fact, was responsible for 13 accidents in 2008-09, up from only four cases in 2004-05.
If you look at railway's internal safety records, human errors made by people "other than railway staff" are to blame for most accidents - 75 of the 177 accidents in 2008-2009 are attributed to such elements.
It is not even clear who these other people to blame for the accidents - they are perhaps those who are crossing unmanned crossings when they get hit by oncoming trains.
Analysts say the problem with Indian Railways is that it has been lagging behind despite the increase in revenues from improved passenger and freight growth.
For example, it has added a mere 220km of new track every year since 2004, compared with over 1,000km of new track by China's railways.
There is really no excuse, analysts say, for a "bloated" organisation like Indian Railways to renege on promises of ensuring a safe journey for passengers.
Clearly, it needs to move quickly and invest in upgrading tracks and signals, and importing state-of-the art technology to make journeys safer.
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US suspends Pakistan military aidTrapped passengers smash windows to wriggle to safety
PTI
Trapped passengers screaming for help, overturned compartments and luggage strewn across the area — this was the scene at the site of the derailment of Delhi-bound Kalka Mail.
Desperate to get out of the mangled compartments, some of the passengers were seen smashing the window panes as they tried to wriggle to safety.
Fifteen out of the total 24 compartments derailed in the accident of which 10 bore the maximum brunt. Of these, six air-conditioned coaches were affected.
While an AC 3-tier coach had turned turtle, another coach was pushed to its top with the impact of the train speeding at about 108 km per hour.
Two other AC coaches banged against each other and stood almost vertically.
The derailment took place at 12.20 p.m. when the packed train from Howrah reached near Malwan station, about 120 km from Lucknow.
Some of the injured passengers were seen coming out of the train in a dazed state with their clothes torn and wounds all over.
They also appealed to their family members for help through television channels.
A resident of Howrah said it looked like that the driver of the train tried to apply the breaks while at great speed but in vain.
"The train was at its maximum speed. Suddenly we heard a loud bang and we did not know what happened after that. Some villagers pulled me and some others out of the train," he said.
Eye witnesses said they came out of their houses after hearing a loud noise and pulled as many people they could out of the train.
The villagers also brought water from their houses and gave it to the injured.
Anoop Patel, a local resident, said the villagers did not wait for the rescuers to come to the spot and started helping the passengers.
"I myself pulled three people out of the train. They were screaming for help...," he said.
India: Train crash in Uttar Pradesh kills dozens
This is the second deadly crash in Uttar Pradesh in a weekAt least 31 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a train derailment in northern India.
Thirteen coaches of the Kalka Mail passenger train left the rails near the town of Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Rescue workers and locals arrived to try to free trapped passengers from the badly damaged carriages.
The train was travelling from Howrah near Calcutta to the capital Delhi. There are fears that the death toll could rise.
'Upside down'The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his deep concern over the accident, the second in a week in Uttar Pradesh, and has directed the railway authorities to use all available resources for the relief operation.
Soldiers have been deployed to help in the rescue effort.
The cause of the derailment, about 120km (75 miles) south-east of Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow, was not immediately clear.
Television footage showed carriages at skewed angles, with one on the roof of another and a third thrown clear of the train.
One passenger told CNN-IBN television: "We were sitting in our seats when suddenly everything turned upside down. When the train stopped we broke the glass windows to jump out on the track."
State police official Brij Lal told the Associated Press news agency: "We're trying to cut into the coaches and rescue those still trapped."
The driver was among those injured.
The number of people on board was not immediately clear but reports said there may have been up to 1,000 passengers.
Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian railway, an immense network connecting every corner of the vast country.
It operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.
On Thursday, 38 people died in Uttar Pradesh when a train hit a bus carrying a wedding party.
Related Stories
- India's patchy railway safety record 19 JULY 2010, SOUTH ASIA
- In pictures: India train crash 19 JULY 2010, SOUTH ASIA
- India train sabotage suspect held 20 JUNE 2010, SOUTH ASIA
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