Report: Freight train slams into passenger train killing 8 people, hurting 50 in central India

Report: Train collision kills 8 in central India

NEW DELHI — A freight train slammed into a stationary passenger locomotive at a railway station amid heavy rain and poor visibility early Monday in central India, killing at least eight people, news reports said.

The collision occurred at the Bhaderwah rail station, 235 miles (375 kilometers) south of the Indian capital New Delhi, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

The CNN-IBN television news channel reported 50 passengers were injured in the collision.

Other details were not immediately available. Officials could not be immediately reached at the accident site.

The cause of the collision was not immediately known.

Accidents are relatively common on India’s sprawling rail network, which is one of the world’s largest but lacks modern signaling and communication systems. Most crashes are blamed on poor maintenance and human error.

In July, 63 people were killed after a train smashed into another locomotive at a rail station in West Bengal state.

A passenger train derailed and was hit by a cargo train in May, killing 145 people in West Bengal state. Authorities blamed sabotage by Maoist rebels for that crash.