LUCKNOW - A freak rail accident in Kanpur Sunday disrupted movement of trains on the busy Delhi-Kolkata trunk route.

An incoming goods train rammed into a stationary goods train near the Panki station in Kanpur, about 85 km from here.

As the impact left the engine of the incoming train and the guard cabins of the two trains completely smashed, no major casualty was reported.

‘Only the engine driver of the incoming train suffered serious wounds. He was hospitalised in Kanpur,’ divisional railway manager Deepak Dave told IANS.

‘The guard had a close shave as he managed to jump off his cabin seconds before the impact,’ he said,

Guard Om Prakash told mediapersons: ‘It was purely providential that I am standing alive here today. If I had wasted a minute I would have been dead.’

Train driver Ashish Srivastava’s condition was stated to be serious.

Railway authorities blamed the accident on the driver, who failed to take necessary precautions during the foggy conditions.

‘Contrary to the standing instructions to all drivers to drive slowly under foggy conditions, the incoming train was being driven at high speed that was indicated by the extent of the impact,’ Dave pointed out.

While the track could not be cleared until the evening, an inquiry was entrusted to the commissioner of railway safety.