New Delhi: Admitting failure of railway staff as the main reason behind train accidents, Railway Minister Nitish Kumar on July 25 informed the Rajya Sabha that 423 persons were killed and 894 injured in 351 mishaps in 2002-03 as per provisional figures.

He said during Question Hour that 216 persons were killed and 488 injured in 473 mishaps in 2000-01 while in the following year 267 persons were killed and 778 others hurt in 414 accidents.

Kumar said most of the accidents occurred due to derailments and at unmanned railway crossings.

Replying to a volley of supplementaries as to what action the ministry was taking against those responsible for the mishaps, he said errant employees would be dismissed if found guilty in course of a statutory inquiry.

He said in the last five years, action had been taken against 2,586 officials.

Opposition members were, however, dissatisfied with the minister's reply and created noisy scenes while expressing their concern over the spate of train accidents.

Kumar said Rs 4.65 crore had been paid as ex-gratia in 2002-03 against Rs 1.60 crore in 2000-01 and Rs 1.18 crore in 2001-02.

He admitted that the reason behind most of the accidents was failure of Railway staff.

Kumar said a Rs 17,000 crore non-lapsable Special Railway Safety Fund had been created with a view to adopting various measures to prevent accidents.

PTI