Two persons were killed and 22 others injured after 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai Mail derailed in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district early on Tuesday, officials said. 

Opposition parties like the Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Trinamool Congress criticised Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw for the accident and advised him to focus on passenger safety.

The crash prompted the railways to divert or cancel around 35 trains mostly in the South Eastern Railway Zones, officials said adding that efforts are on to restore the three affected tracks.

"At least 18 of the 22 coaches of 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail via Nagpur derailed near Barabamboo station in SER's Chakradharpur Division," South Eastern Railway spokesperson Om Prakash Charan said.

Of these, 16 were passenger coaches, one power car and one pantry car.

"Two persons were killed and 22 others injured. Of the injured people, 18 have been discharged from hospitals and four are under observation," Seraikela-Kharsawan Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat told PTI.

One wagon of a goods train had derailed and fell on other tracks on which the Howrah-Mumbai Mail was coming, he said, adding that the passenger train hit the wagon, resulting in the derailment of 18 coaches.

West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary who was at the accident site and oversaw the rescue work.

The accident site is near the border between West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts.

SER general manager Anil Kumar Mishra said it would take 18 to 20 hours to restore train movement on the tracks.

"The injured passengers were provided medical aid in Barabamboo. They were taken to Chakradharpur for better treatment," a senior SER official said.

The railways made an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each to the family of the two deceased passengers of Howrah-Mumbai Mail. The two are P Bikash and Ajit Kumar Samal, both from Odisha's Rourkela.

The railways also paid Rs one lakh each to the eight people who suffered minor injuries.

"The accident will be investigated by a team, headed by commissioner, safety, railways", Aditya Kumar Choudhary, senior DCM, Chakradharpur, SER told PTI.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said his government provided an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased in the train accident and Rs 50,000 each to those injured.

The Opposition parties slammed the Centre accusing it of neglecting the safety of trains.

Soren alleged that the infrastructure of the railways is on the verge of collapse.

Taking a jibe at the Railways, Soren said the reality of the ministry was in front of everyone to see in stark contrast against its tall projections.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too slammed the central government over the series of train accidents and wondered whether there would be no end to the Centre's callousness.

In a dig at the ruling National Democratic Alliance, TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose said, "How many more train accidents will it take for the National Disaster Alliance government to wake up?"

The Congress also took a swipe at Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw after the train derailment, saying since June the "Fail Minister" has "overseen three accidents" that have cumulatively cost 17 lives but there is "no accountability" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new India.

Jharkhand Health and Disaster Management Minister Banna Gupta, who visited the accident site, told media persons that the Jharkhand government was extending full cooperation to the railways.

"Such major accidents are a cause of concern", he said, urging the Centre to "augment infrastructure instead of talking about bullet trains".

JMM legislator and Chief Minister Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren urged the JMM and INDIA bloc workers to extend help to the district administration in carrying out relief and rescue operations besides providing water and food to the victims.

Eyewitnesses said people from nearby villagers had rushed to the accident spot and extended full cooperation in rescue and relief operations.

The SER cancelled 11 express and passenger trains owing to the accident, including Howrah-Titlagarh-Kantabanji Express, Kharagpur-Jhargram-Dhanbad Express, Howrah-Barbil-Howrah Jan Shatabdi Express, Tatanagar-Itwari Express and Shalimar-LTT Express.

Six other trains were either short-terminated or diverted, the official said.

The SER cancelled a few express and passenger trains owing to the accident. These are the 22861 Howrah-Titlagarh-Kantabanji Express, 08015/18019 Kharagpur-Jhargram-Dhanbad Express, 12021/12022 Howrah-Barbil-Howrah Jan Shatabdi Express, 18109 Tatanagar-Itwari Express and 18030 Shalimar-LTT Express.

Some other trains will be short-terminated or diverted, the official said. They are 18114 Bilaspur-Tatanagar Express which will be short terminated at Rourkela, 18190 Ernakulam-Tatanagar Express at Chakradharpur, 18011 Howrah-Chakradharpur Express at Adra and 18110 Itwari-Tatanagar Express at Bilaspur.

The South Eastern Railway has opened helpline numbers for passengers. The numbers are 022-22694040 for Mumbai, 08799982712 for Bhusawal, 7757912790 for Nagpur, 0657-2290324 for Tata, 06587-238072 for Chakradharpur, 0661-2501072 and 0661-2500244 for Rourkela and 06645-272530 for Jharsuguda.

Helpline numbers for Howrah are: 9433357920 and 033-26382217, Shalimar (7595074427 and 6295531471) and Kharagpur (03222-293764), the SER said.