Kolkata/New Delhi, June 17 (Reporter) A goods train smashed into the back of a stationary passenger train in West Bengal's Darjeeling district on Monday, killing eight people and injuring over two dozen, Northeast Frontier Railway bulletin said, in an accident that railway authorities blamed on a disregarded signal. The Sealdah-bound Kanchanjungha Express that left Agartala on Sunday and was scheduled to reach destination by Monday evening when around 8.55 am it met with the accident about 10 km away from the New Jalpaiguri (NJP) railway station, when many passengers aboard were yet to start their day. The passenger train was hit by a goods train carrying containers between Raninagar and Chaterhat station under the Katihar division of the NFRailway. Four coaches of the rear side of the express train and five wagons of the container train were derailed by the impact of the crash that Chairman & CEO Railway Board Jaya Varma Sinha, said: "Prima facie suggests human error as the cause. The first indications suggest that this is a case of signal disregard. Kavach needs to proliferate, as planned for West Bengal." Both Up and Down lines were impacted causing nine trains to be stranded at various stations on their routes. The central government announced an enhanced ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased. The announcement was made by Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a social media post on X. The minister was expected to be at the accident site later in the day. "Enhanced ex-gratia compensation will be provided to the victims; ₹10 Lakh in case of death, ₹2.5 Lakh towards grievous and ₹50,000 for minor injuries," he said. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the tragedy and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of deceased. A compensation of Rs 50,000 for each of those injured in the incident was also announced by the PMO. Driver of the goods train and guard of the passenger express were among the eight dead declared so far in the train accident in Siliguri district. Sinha, confirmed that eight people have died, including three railway officials and five others, in the accident. Meanwhile, in a social media post on X, the Prime Minister said, "The railway accident in West Bengal is saddening. Condolences to those who lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover as the earliest. Spoke to officials and took stock of the situation. Rescue operations are underway to assist the affected." He also informed: "The Railways Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw Ji is on the way to the site of the mishap as well." A medical team from the Indian Army reached the spot to assist the civilian authorities, including many NGOs. The NDRF and DMG began the rescue operations earlier. The evacuation was, however, affected due to inclement weather. The rescuers were looking for any people stuck inside the mangled bogies. The first responders were locals though. The CPRO NF Railway said 25 passengers have been wounded. Most of them were admitted to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. Among the dead were the guard of Kanchanjunga Express Ashish Dey -- the first one to be identified. Meanwhile, rail traffic has been affected on Barsoi-New Jalpaiguri (NJP) rail section after the rail accident near Rangapani railway junction in West Bengal. Surendra Kumar, Divisional Rail Manager of Katihar informed that the accident took place on the down line of the section. Nine trains including Dibrugarh New Delhi Rajdhani, Express , Howrah New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express have been diverted to New Jalpaiguri -Siliguri- Bagdogra - Aluabari rail section. Several Guwahati, Agartala and North East bound trains are stranded at different railway stations on Barsoi- Jalpaiguri rail section after the accident. The DRM informed that two trains including Radhikapur- Siliguri Intercity Express has been cancelled due to the accident. The unaffected portion of the express train left for the onward journey carrying 1,300 passengers hours after the incident and each passenger on board was provided food packets, the NFR bulletin said. Besides five passengers, three railway staff who lost their lives were identified as Guard of the Kanchenjunga Express Asish Dey, Loco Pilot of goods train Anil Kumar, and ALP of Goods train Munna Kumar. Several sources said the safe distance between the trains on the automatic territory breach was behind the accident but it is yet to be ascertained why the breach took place...////...