A major accident has come to light in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand late on Tuesday night, which has raised questions on the safety standards in the under-construction projects. Here, a loco train carrying laborers and a goods train collided with each other inside the tunnel of THDC’s Vishnugadh-Pipalkoti hydroelectric project located at Pipalkoti. About 60 workers are reported to have been injured in this fierce clash, many of whom have been seriously injured and some have also suffered fractures. It is fortunate that no one died in this accident and all the injured were taken out safely in time. At present everyone’s condition is said to be stable.
The accident occurred due to chaos during shift change inside the tunnel, technical fault or signal failure.
This incident occurred on December 30, 2025 at around 9:30 pm. It is being told that shift change work was going on inside this 13 kilometer long tunnel. At that time, there were a total of 108 to 109 people in the two loco trains, which included labourers, engineers and officers. One train was carrying laborers while the other was carrying goods. Preliminary investigation has revealed that due to technical fault or signal failure in the Andheri tunnel, one train hit the other heavily from behind. The collision was so strong that there was panic among the workers and many people fell from their seats and got injured.
Workers kept groaning with fractures and deep injuries, admitted to Gopeshwar and Vivekananda hospitals.
Out of the total 60 people injured in the accident, 4-5 laborers suffered fractures, while others also suffered serious injuries. Most of the injured are laborers from Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand who were working in this project. As part of relief and rescue operations, 42 injured were immediately sent to Gopeshwar District Hospital, while 17 others were admitted to Vivekananda Hospital in Pipalkoti. The remaining workers have been discharged after first aid. THDC officials have claimed that most of the injuries are minor, but the screams of the workers revealed the horrific scene inside the tunnel.
As soon as information about the accident was received, DM and SP rushed to the spot, gave strict instructions to check safety standards
Seeing the seriousness of the accident, the district administration immediately came into action. Shortly after the accident, District Officer (DM) Gaurav Kumar and Superintendent of Police (SP) Surajit Singh Panwar reached the spot along with senior employees of the project. With the help of ambulance and other vehicles, the injured were taken out of the tunnel and taken to hospitals. The administration has started reviewing the security arrangements and has ordered a strong investigation into the accident. A detailed report on the entire matter has been sought from the THDC management to find out where the lapse occurred.
These special loco trains run within the project itself, this entire project is of 444 MW.
It is noteworthy that Vishnugadh-Pipalkoti Hydroelectric Project (444 MW) is an important project being built by THDC, which involves construction of about 13 km long tunnel. Within this tunnel, special types of loco trains are used to transport workers, officials and heavy goods from one place to another. It is not a part of Indian Railways, but the project has its own internal transport system. This accident has once again raised concerns about the safety of workers engaged in tunnel construction.
