A train mishap in India is not out of the ordinary. Many times, it derails and sometimes face to face collisions leaving behind many dead and hundreds of injured and the same number of grieving families. Adding to the long accidental records of Indian railways another one took place, when a colonial-era footbridge collapsed onto railroad tracks in eastern India on Saturday, burying a train beneath tons of red rock and killing at least 33 passengers.

Rescuers struggled for hours to remove the pile of concrete, slabs of red stone and debris from the mangled sleeper car. By nightfall, they reached the crushed section and discovered that the car — believed to have been largely empty — was full of bodies. Thirty-three bodies had been recovered by Saturday night, including those of five children, fourteen people were pulled out alive and four of the wounded were in a serious condition.

The Ulta Pul was waiting to happen something like this though a new one have been constructed and already in use to replace it. The foot overbridge that smashed down on top of a moving train on Saturday morning was a British relic - over 150 years old and beyond repair.

With the accident, the Indian Railways have once again come back into focus, especially the condition of railway bridges. Despite a generous allocation of Rs. 17,000 crore for repair work, it’s bridges like the Ulta Pul that are a constant cause of trouble.

The lack of funds that was an excuse for every Railway minister, but, not for talkative Lalu Yadav this time. However, the recent mishap has again sparked the debate - should the money be utilized on the maintenance of existing infrastructure or should it be used to create new trains and railway lines. Following ministers have always stuck to the latter alternative but more often at the cost of basic safety standards. The Railway authorities must first spend on the safety of the people, no matter how much money that might take.

Via: CNN