Incident: A Tragedy Waiting to Happen
On January 22, 2025, India’s decaying railway infrastructure claimed more lives: 12 dead, 15 injured. Panic erupted on the Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express when passengers mistook harmless sparks from a malfunctioning axle for a fire. Screaming “Aag lag gayi!” (There’s a fire!), passengers scrambled for safety, only to meet their deaths on the tracks. Moments later, the Karnataka Express, traveling at 140 km/h on a parallel line, struck them near Pachora, Maharashtra—a grim testament to a system that repeatedly fails its people.

Panic Born of Neglect
The cause? Not a fire, but a failing system. The sparks, while harmless, were enough to ignite fear in passengers who’ve learned to expect disaster on India’s railways. Years of deadly accidents have conditioned commuters to react with survival-driven panic. This time, their instinct turned fatal.

The Victims: Lives Treated as Disposable
The dead included seven Nepali migrants, four laborers from Uttar Pradesh, and one unidentified individual. Survivors emerged from the chaos, clutching severed limbs and staggering through a blood-soaked scene. For the authorities, these lives were little more than numbers, bodies to be counted and compensated with token payouts.

Compensation: A Hollow Gesture
Maharashtra’s ₹5 lakh ($6,000) compensation and Indian Railways’ ₹1.5 lakh offer were little more than symbolic gestures, far from addressing the systemic failures that led to the tragedy.

Investigations: A Farce in Motion

• Excuses Over Accountability: Officials blamed a “two-degree track curvature,” a weak attempt to explain away infrastructural negligence.
• Shifting the Blame: Deputy CM Ajit Pawar suggested a tea vendor’s rumor was responsible for the panic. Deflecting responsibility onto a bystander only highlights the lack of real solutions.
• Empty Promises: The much-hyped Kavach anti-collision system was absent, another reminder of the misplaced priorities that favor flashy projects over essential safety upgrades.

A Pattern of Neglect
This wasn’t an isolated incident—it was part of a grim pattern. The 2023 Odisha train disaster (290 dead) and the 2024 Tripura derailment are just recent examples of a system plagued by negligence. While billions are poured into bullet trains and vanity projects, ordinary citizens remain trapped in death traps labeled as “Express.”

Conclusion: How Many More Lives Will It Take?
The bodies at Pachora are yet another indictment of a government that prioritizes image over safety. India must stop romanticizing its “vibrant chaos” and confront the reality: its railways run on neglect and indifference. Will anything change before the next tragedy trends online? Don’t hold your breath—the next headline is only a matter of time.