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Head-on train collision narrowly averted: AFP

Sharp reactions from a train driver averted a disastrous head-on collision between two passenger trains in India, in a near repetition of a crash last year that left hundreds dead, newspapers reported Tuesday.

The incident occurred on Monday in the eastern state of West Bengal, not far from the site of the August disaster that killed 300 people.

Railway officials quoted by the Indian Express said "human error" had cleared an express train bound for the north-eastern city of Guwahati on the same track as a stationary, New Delhi-bound train.

Realising the signalling blunder, the express train driver brought the train to a screeching halt "barely a couple of hundred yards away" from the other train, the daily said.

Railway officials blamed the incident on "sheer callousness" and suspended a senior employee. The near-collision disrupted train services in the area for five hours.

India has witnessed three major rail disasters in the past four years which have left at least 800 dead and more than 2,000 maimed.

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