Datia train crash
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The Datia train crash was a railroad accident that occurred on 3 October 2005 involving a passenger train near Datia in India's Madhya Pradesh Province. The accident was one of approximately thirty which India's poorly maintained transport system suffers each year, and occurred just three weeks before the Veligonda rail disaster which killed 114 people.
The overcrowded Bundelkhand Express from Varanasi to Gwalior was apparently travelling at over six times the legal speed limit, when it overshot a sharp turn near the town of Datia. The engine and six coaches jumped the track and crashed through a signalman's box before coming to rest nearby in a crumpled heap. 16 people were killed and over 100 injured, with dozens of people having to be cut out of the wreckage by rescue teams with blow torches. The train did not catch fire following the accident, thus saving dozens of lives.
The driver, who was believed to have been travelling at 90km/h, was killed in the crash, thus avoiding prosecution, but the company admitted some responsibility for the incident, and promised 500,000 rupees (approximately £6,500 or $11,000) and a reserved future job on the railway to the family of each victim.
