Peruman railway accident
Encyclopedia
In the Peruman Train Tragedy, the Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...

 - Kanyakumari
Kanyakumari
Kanyakumari is a town in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It is also sometimes referred to as Cape Comorin. Located at the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, it is the geographical end of the Indian mainland. The district in Tamil Nadu where the town is located is called Kanyakumari...

 Island Express
Island Express (train)
The Island Express is an Indian Railways train running between Bangalore and Kanyakumari. Train# 16526 runs from Bangalore to Kanyakumari, and Train# 16525 runs in the reverse direction...

 train derailed on the Peruman bridge over Ashtamudi Lake
Ashtamudi Lake
Ashtamudi Lake in the Kollam District of Kerala, India, is the second largest and deepest wetland ecosystem, a palm-shaped large water body, next only to the Vembanad estuary ecosystem of the state. Ashtamudi means 'eight coned' in the local language of Malayalam...

, near Perinadu, Kollam
Kollam district
-Climate:Kollam's temperature is almost steady throughout the year. The average temperature ranges from 25 to 32 degrees Celsius. Summer usually runs from March until May; the monsoon begins by June and ends by September. Kollam receives an annual average rainfall of around...

, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and fell into the lake, killing 105 people on July 8, 1988.

Officials say the cause for the accident was a tornado. But still the cause of accident remains a mystery. Ten bogie carriages of the Island Express fell into Ashtamudi Lake, and more than 200 persons were seriously injured.

The Peruman Train Tragedy is one of the largest train tragedies
Tragedy (event)
A tragedy is an event in which one or more losses, usually of human life, occurs that is viewed as mournful. Such an event is said to be tragic....

 in the history of the Indian state of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

. Indian Railways
Indian Railways
Indian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....

 constructed a new bridge across the lake. The old bridge remains in memorial of the Peruman Tragedy. On July 8, 2008 the government of Kerala and the relatives paid homage at the crash site.

Movie based on Island Express

There is a short movie by Shankar Ramakrishnan that has been titled as "Island Express
Kerala Cafe
Kerala Cafe is a Malayalam anthology film produced by Ranjith and directed by a team of ten directors including Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakumar, Shankar Ramakrishnan, and Uday Ananthan. For the first time in the history of...

". The cast includes Prithviraj,Jayasurya,Rahman,Maniyan Pilla Raju...and cinematography is by S.Kumar. The movie describes about the connection of different people and their journey after the accident.

Cause

It is not clear if this accident was a simple derailment
Derailment
A derailment is an accident on a railway or tramway in which a rail vehicle, or part or all of a train, leaves the tracks on which it is travelling, with consequent damage and in many cases injury and/or death....

, bridge collapse or washaway
Washaway
A washaway is a particular kind of landslide that can affect man-made structures such as cuttings, embankments and bridges. They are thus a hazard to railways and road traffic.- Overview :...

. Most eyewitnesses say the train was running at a speed higher than what they saw on other days. Some others say that some track maintenance was going on with speed restriction which the driver did not observe.
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