Mangalore-Chennai Express derails in Tamil Nadu, 42 injured

Chennai: At least 42 people were injured after six coaches of the Chennai-Mangalore Express derailed in Tamil Nadu early Friday.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities from the accident that occurred near Virudhachalam, about 230km south of Chennai.

The injured were given first aid at the Virudhachalam government hospital, railway officials said.

Special buses were organized for passengers travelling to Trichy and Salem. The train later began its onward journey after the derailed bogies were detached.

Friday's accident, the third in just about a month, once again put the spotlight on railway safety.

On August 4, at least 35 people died and 25 were injured when two trains derailed within minutes of each other while crossing a small bridge in Madhya Pradesh.

On August 24, five people including a Karnataka legislator were killed when a granite-laden truck rammed into an express train at a level crossing in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur.

India has the world's fourth largest railway network that ferries more than 23 million passengers every day, but infrastructure is poorly maintained and accidents are common.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 25,006 people died and 3,882 were injured in railway accidents across the country in 2014. While most of these fatalities were caused by fall from trains or collision of trains with people on track, as many as 190 deaths were attributed to collision between trains, derailments and fire accidents.

In 2012, a government report said almost 15,000 people were killed every year on the railways, describing the deaths as an annual "massacre" due mainly to poor safety standards.