TRAIN CRASH TOLL RISES TO 63 IN EASTERN INDIA

DRIVER ‘ERROR’ MAY HAVE CAUSED
INDIA’S WEST BENGAL TRAIN CRASH

NEW DELHI, India (CNN / BBC) - The death toll from Monday’s train collision in eastern India has risen to 63, officials said Tuesday. Authorities in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, where the crash occurred, also revised the number of injured passengers to at least 94. Driver error may have led to Monday’s train crash in eastern India’s West Bengal state which left 63 people dead, preliminary investigations have found. The express had entered the station in Sainthia town at full speed, even though it had a scheduled stop there, railway officials say. The driver did not brake or heed numerous stop messages, before the express hit a stationary train. Another train crash in West Bengal back in May killed nearly 150 people. Authorities blamed sabotage by Maoist rebels for that tragedy. Monday morning’s accident occurred when the Uttar Banga Express smashed into the stationary Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express at the station in the Birbhum district, about 200km (125 miles) north of Calcutta.

Officials have identified human error as a major culprit in train wrecks, so authorities have ordered an investigation to determine what caused the crash. Indian railway minister Mamata Banerjee has announced financial assistance of about $10,575 to each victim’s family, and about $2,115 to every seriously wounded passenger. District administrator Saumitra Mohan told CNN that emergency crews have cleared wreckage from the railroad. Early Monday, a moving train ploughed into a stationary train at Sainthia station at Birbhum. The powerful rear-ender flung the roof of one of the rammed compartments onto an overpass, television footage showed. Rescuers used gas-powered tools similar to blowtorches to free travelers trapped inside the mangled coaches of the Vananchal Express. Giant cranes then pulled twisted metal from the tracks.


Indian Railways operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day, and accidents are common on this immense network connecting every corner of the vast country. This material world is full of dangers, and there is no guarantee that next we shall get human birth, so we have to take shelter under the Lotus Feets of the Guru and Krishna.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

It is stated in the Gita (8.6): yam yam vāpi smaran bhāvam / tyajaty ante kalevaram / tam tam evaiti kaunteya / sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitah “Whatever we shall think at the time of death, we shall get birth accordingly.” The votary should have firm faith in God- Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. Supreme Lord is One, He cannot be many. Even a particle cannot be outside Krishna. He is the only sustainer and maintainer. By serving Him we serve all. If we pour water at the root of the tree, all parts of the tree will be nourished; if we give food to the stomach, all parts of the body will be nourished; like that we should have firm faith- by serving Him we serve all. Without serving Him, Who is the Prime Cause of all causes, we can neither do any good to ourselves nor to others, but only the valuable time of precious human birth will be unnecessarily wasted.

Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāja :
“Process of Initiation”
http://www.vaisnava.hu/nanda/cikkek/tanitasok/felavatas_en.htm
http://www.sreecgmath.org