FILE PHOTO: The trains were being used to ferry workers and carry construction material. - Reuters
NEW DELHI: Two monorail trains collided at a hydropower plant being built in India’s northern state of Uttarakhand late on Dec 30 and at least 109 workers were injured, a district official told Reuters.
Most of the workers received minor injuries, said the official. Four suffered fractures.
The trains collided inside a tunnel in Pipalkoti, the site of an upcoming hydropower project by Tehri Hydro Development Corporation, owned in part by NTPC.
Gaurav Kumar, the top administrative officer in the area, told Reuters by telephone that the accident occurred on the night of Dec 30 after the brakes of one of the monorail trains failed.
The trains were being used to ferry workers and carry construction material.
Kumar said the tracks had been cleared and work on the project would resume on Dec 31.
Hydropower accounts for about 51 gigawatts of India’s installed power capacity of about 505 gigawatts, with Uttarakhand home to more than 10 operating hydropower plants with about two gigawatts capacity and several projects under construction. - Reuters
