A major rail disaster was narrowly averted on the morning of Thursday, January 22, 2026, when the Gonda-Asansol Express (Train No. 13510) collided with a rice-laden truck at the Nawadih railway crossing in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district.
The incident, which occurred at approximately 9:38 AM, sent shockwaves through the local community as the train, traveling from Jasidih toward Asansol, struck a truck with the license plate JH-15-X-8874 that had become stranded on the tracks due to heavy traffic congestion. Eyewitnesses reported hearing a series of loud, frantic horn blasts from the locomotive as the driver realized the crossing was not clear.
Despite the timely application of emergency brakes, the momentum of the heavy express train was too great to stop in time, leading to a powerful impact that badly damaged the front portion of the engine and nearly toppled the truck. The force of the collision pushed the truck into nearby traffic, specifically striking two motorcycles that were waiting near the gate.
While initial panic spread among the passengers who felt a “violent jolt” followed by an abrupt stop, the Asansol Railway Division confirmed that there were no fatalities or serious injuries among the train’s travelers. However, the two motorcyclists caught in the impact sustained injuries—described by some officials as minor and others as serious—and were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital by local residents.
The location of the accident, situated between Kumarbad and Rohini stations on the Jasidih-Asansol main line, is a critical artery for the region as it lies on the Deoghar-Ranchi main road, which serves as the primary access route to AIIMS Deoghar. Consequently, the collision caused a massive traffic jam, leaving ambulances and commuters stranded for hours while railway authorities and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) worked to clear the wreckage.
Preliminary reports from the scene highlighted a potential breakdown in safety protocols; the gatekeeper, Pankaj Kumar, claimed that the train arrived on the down line even though a proper clearance signal had not been given due to the road traffic backlog. Conversely, some railway officials suggested the truck had forcibly entered the crossing while the gates were in the process of closing or were already obstructed.
To resolve these conflicting accounts, the Eastern Railway has constituted a four-member committee to conduct a comprehensive probe into the negligence that led to the incident. The damaged engine was eventually removed using a heavy-duty crane, and rail services were partially restored by 10:55 AM, approximately two hours after the crash, though the psychological impact on the locals remains high given that this crossing has been the site of similar accidents in the past.
The spill of rice from the truck and the mangled remains of the motorcycles served as a stark reminder of how close the event came to being a mass-casualty tragedy, reinforcing calls from residents for a permanent overbridge to replace the hazardous level crossing.
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