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Hundreds of travellers were stranded on trains as damage to overhead power lines brought one of the country’s main rail lines grinding to a halt today.
All East Coast train services between London and the northeast were suspended.
The disruption is the latest to hit transport in Britain during a bitter cold snap, with snow and ice also grounding flights and slowing road traffic.
A spokesman for the train company told BBC television that several hundred passengers were stuck on six trains in different locations between London and Peterborough.
Disruptions have left thousands of train passengers frustrated.
A passenger who was briefly trapped on one of the trains near Huntingdon station in Cambridgeshire described how he had to clamber out of the stranded train in freezing conditions.
“We’re going to have to climb down a ladder from the train on to the trackside, where they’re going to evacuate us in groups of 20,” Ian Dormer told BBC Radio.
The company said in a statement all train services to and from London King’s Cross station on the busy line had been suspended for the rest of the day.
“East Coast is also advising all passengers who have arrived at King’s Cross to go home and restart their journeys tomorrow,” it said.
The company runs 136 weekday train services along Britain’s east coast, linking London and Scotland.
More than 160 people were injured and two of them died overnight, raising the overall death toll to 63
A probe into a rail crash in eastern India that claimed more than 60 lives focused Tuesday on why a packed express train hurtled at high speed into a station where it was scheduled to halt.
The express roared into Sainthia station in West Bengal state at 90 kilometers an hour (60 miles an hour) early Monday and slammed with enormous force into the rear of a stationary train waiting to leave the platform.
More than 160 people were injured and two of them died overnight, raising the overall death toll to 63.
Accidents are common on India's vast railway network.Indian railways has a patchy safety record
Speculation and looming state elections in West Bengal produced a host of theories in the immediate wake of the crash, as the potential for blame was shifted between politicians and railway officials.
Indian Railway Board Chairman Vivek Sahay suggested that human error was the most likely cause, saying the express driver had ignored a stop signal and then failed to reduce speed as he approached the station.
"Why was the train travelling so fast? The driver didn't even touch the brakes or the emergency brakes," Sahay told reporters.
With the express hurtling towards them, officials at Sainthia station issued frantic warnings over the public address system, telling those on the platform to run for safety.
Retired train drivers interviewed by several Indian newspapers questioned Sahay's version of events, saying the fact that neither the driver nor his assistant attempted to apply the brakes suggested a signal failure or other technical malfunction.
Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee had initially raised the possibility of sabotage, a move her opponents said was aimed at deflecting criticism for a recent spate of train accidents on her watch.
Banerjee has come under pressure for neglecting her ministerial duties in order to concentrate on the May 2011 polls in her home state of West Bengal where she is aiming to end more than three decades of Marxist rule.
"Shunt Her Out" was the front page verdict of the Mail Today newspaper, while an editorial in The Hindu said Banerjee was "clearly not up to the job of ensuring safety on the tracks".
West Bengal Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee, an arch rival of Banerjee's, ridiculed her hints at possible sabotage.
"The tragic accident took place because of negligence on the part of the railway administration," Mukherjee said.
Rescued: Pupils who collapsed in 50C temperatures after air conditioning failed on a high-tech ICE train in Germany receive medical treatment in Bielefeld
Sweltering: Fifty two people needed treatment after high temperatures caused air conditioning to fail on three trains
A group of schoolchildren were among 52 people who needed medical treatment after they were trapped inside three high-tech trains in Germany in temperatures up to 50C.
The air conditioning in the three trains failed during the heatwave and around 1,000 people had to switch to another train, national rail company Deutsche Bahn said.
All three modern ICE trains - which has windows that do not open - were headed west from Berlin.
Two lost their air conditioning close to a station and could be emptied quickly, Deutsche Bahn spokesman Juergen Kornmann confirmed.
But a third heated up some distance before reaching the city of Bielefeld.
Mr Kornmann said eight people needed to be hospitalised in Bielefeld suffering from heat exhaustion and another 44 needed medical treatment.
Deutsche Bahn manager Ulrich Homburg said in a statement: 'We regret that some passengers suffered from health problems and even had to be taken to the hospital.
'We are shocked and want to apologise.' Ninety-one rescue staff called to the station had to treat people suffering from hyperventilation, vertigo, overheating and other headaches.
Among those needing treatment were 27 children who were on their way back from a class trip to Berlin.
Hans-Dieter Muehlenberg, chief of the rescue team, confirmed to the DAPD news agency that temperatures inside the train approached 50C.
Deutsche Bahn said the air conditioning problems were caused by high temperatures outside.
Germany has gone through a severe heat wave with temperatures approaching 40C.
Fright: The lead carriage caught fire and the train was left hanging over the A85 Oban to Perth road
Precarious: The derailed train seen through trees near the Falls of Cruachan power station, by Loch Awe in Argyll
Close: The wheel of the train is seen through the branches of the trees
Investigators are today trying to establish why a train with 60 people aboard derailed and and burst into flames last night, leaving nine people injured.
The train, which was left 'precariously balanced' over a 50ft embankment, was taking 60 passengers from Glasgow to Oban when it derailed near the Falls of Cruachan in Argyll shortly before 9pm last night.
Emergency services have said that none of the injuries were life-threatening. Police said the lead carriage caught fire and the train was left hanging over the A85 Oban to Perth road. All passengers got off safely.
Near disaster: Emergency crews attend the train derailment and fire at the Falls of Cruachan last night. The first carriage teetered over an embankment but 70 passengers managed to walk to safety
Cordon: Roads near the train derailment were closed off last night and this morning after the near-disaster
Lucky escape: Emergency services close to the scene of the derailment. Eight people were taken to hospital after the train swung out over a 50ft embankment and caught fire
Remote: The Falls of Cruachan railway station. The derailment occurred around 500 yards away
An investigation into the cause of the accident has already been launched. One theory was that the train hit a boulder on the the line.
Traumatised passengers said that if the crash had happened 100 yards in either direction, the carriage would have been sent over a sheer drop. Instead it was thought to have been supported by a metal railing.
Paul Gibson, a passenger on the train, described frightening 'balls of flame' inside the carriage.
He told the BBC: 'It felt like it was a few minutes or so, but it must have been only about 20 seconds.Bags and shelves seemed to sort of start flying across the carriage.
'And then all of a sudden on either side of us on the outside big balls of flame managed to come across us.'
Another eyewitness said he was blown by a fireball to the front of a carriage before being helped from the carriage as it swung out over the embankment.
A British Transport Police (BTP) spokesman said today: 'Network Rail engineers are just going on site to make the train secure.
'At this stage there is nothing to suggest any criminality.
'There are a few big boulders lying about on the railway line. Early indications are it's probably been a landslide but investigations are under way.
'There are a number of officers on scene from British Transport Police and Strathclyde Police.'
The train involved was a two-car train on the the 6.20pm Glasgow Queen Street to Oban service. The leading car derailed and caught fire, he said. Following the crash, eyewitnesses said one man leapt from the train and helped evacuate those still on board.
Passengers, who were told to leave their belongings behind, then had to walk along the tracks to Falls of Cruachan railway station.
Other passengers were taken to Cruachan power station.
The Scottish Ambulance Service sent several vehicles from across the region and two helicopters - one owned by police and the other by the MoD - were scrambled to help with the rescue operation.
However, it is thought those injured, around eight in total, were 'walking wounded' only. They were taken to hospital in Oban and Glasgow - where one person is thought to have minor spinal injuries.
An ambulance spokesman said: 'Initially, it was thought there were about 50 casualties but it's nowhere near that. There's quite a lot of walking wounded. There's a couple of bumps to necks and backs and things like that.'
Strathclyde Fire and Rescue sent a major incident unit from Clydebank and a heavy rescue vehicle from Easterhouse in Glasgow. Two rescue pumps from Oban were joined by a pump which services Dalmally, Inveraray and Arrochar.
Two air ambulances and a Royal Navy Sea King chopper were also involved in the rescue. This morning police confirmed eight people were injured in total.
There were warnings of rail delays until further notice. The A85, A819 and B845 roads between Taynuilt and Dalmally were closed in both directions to allow access for the emergency services. Drivers were asked to approach the area with caution.
Rowena Jay, who owns a holiday cottage at Falls of Cruachan, said the accident happened about 500 yards from the station, adding: 'The train came through more or less on time but I didn't hear the accident.
'I went up and there was an ambulance and fire crew there. I offered help and they said it was fine, everyone had been walked out.'
A spokesman for ScotRail said: 'An investigation is already under way into the cause of the incident by appropriate agencies and industry partners.'
The South African antique luxury Rovos Rail train lays derailed outside the capital Pretoria
Emergency workers search the scene of the train derailment this afternoon
Wrecked: The South African antique luxury Rovos Rail train lays derailed outside the capital Pretoria
A restored vintage train carrying tourists on a luxury rail safari derailed in Pretoria killing three people - including a mother and her baby, which was born after the crash.
Seventeen coaches of the Rovos Rail train, which was near the end of a journey from Cape Town, came off the tracks just outside a station in the city.
Twenty-five other passengers were taken to hospital. 'Patients were strewn all over the scene,' said Werner Vermaak, spokesman for a private ambulance company ER24.
A restored train carrying foreign tourists on a luxury rail safari went off the tracks Wednesday outside a station in the South African capital, killing three people
Rescue team attend to an injured person after the South African antique luxury Rovos Rail train derailed outside the capital Pretoria
One of the victims was pregnant. The pregnant woman went into labor immediately after the accident, possibly from the force of the impact, but neither she nor her baby survived.
Vermaak said power tools had to be used to cut some passengers from the wreckage.
The accident comes just seven weeks before hundreds of thousands of foreign tourists are expected to descend upon South Africa for the World Cup.
A Rovos Rail spokesman said the train was carrying 55 passengers plus crew.
The passengers were from several countries including Britain, America and Germany. Rovos Rail offers holiday trips across Africa that recall the golden age of travel, on trains that combine Edwardian period features such as wood panelling with modern conveniences such as air conditioning and hot showers.
The trains carry up to 72 passengers in 36 cabins. The routes were established in 1989 and run with restored locomotives.
The oldest engine in the fleet is a 76-ton 'Class 6' locomotive originally built in 1893; the youngest is a 225-ton steam engine built in 1954.
The train travels around South Africa and to Namibia and Tanzania.
The Cape Town-Pretoria route costs between £1,000 and £2,000 per passenger for the two-day trip.
The train also traverses the famed 'Cape to Cairo' route, a month-long journey between Cape Town and Egypt's capital. That trip can cost up to £36,000 per passenger.
The passengers included 44 Americans, four each from France, South Africa and Britain, and three from Germany, for a total of 59, said Rovos Rail Managing Director Rohan Vos. Another official had earlier said 55 passengers were aboard.
The television frame taken on April 4, 2010 shows the spot of incident near the Inchkhe station in Dagestan's Karabudakhkentsky district, Russia, April 4, 2010. An explosion derailed eight cars of a cargo train in Russia's North Caucasian republic of Dagestan early Sunday, the Itar-Tass news agency reported
Militants have stepped up attacks in recent months throughout Russia's Caucasus region
An explosive device placed on a railway line derailed a goods train early Sunday in the troubled North Caucasus region of Dagestan, Russian news agencies reported.
At 3:50 am (2350 GMT Saturday), an explosive device blew up on Makhachkala rail line, a spokesman for the FSB secret services in Dagestan told the Interfax news agency.
"As a result eight carriages and an engine derailed. There were no dead or injured," the FSB spokesman said.
Investigators have opened a criminal probe into terrorism, arms trafficking and illegal production of weapons and explosives, Interfax reported, citing Makhachkala's interior ministry's transport police.
A senior special forces official in the North Caucasus told the RIA Novosti news agency that the attack appeared to be linked to the March 29 double suicide bombings in the Moscow metro that killed 40 people.
"The first results of an investigation started early Sunday suggest that this explosion is a continuation of a terrorist attack by North Caucasus rebels that began March 29," the unnamed official told RIA Novosti.
The Moscow attacks were followed by two suicide bombings on Wednesday in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan that killed 12 people including nine police.
The latest explosion was caused by a device equivalent to five kilograms (11 pounds) of TNT, while a "booby trap" device placed a few metres away contained the equivalent of one kilogram of TNT, the FSB spokesman told Interfax.
A passenger train from the Siberian city of Tyumen to Baku was due to pass along the track two hours after the attack. It has been halted while the tracks are repaired, Interfax reported.
Militants have stepped up attacks in recent months throughout Russia's Caucasus region, where Islamist fighters have been battling pro-Kremlin local authorities and Russian security forces in a sporadic insurgency.
The "Caucasus Emirate" Islamist group, led by Doku Umarov, has claimed responsibility for the Moscow metro bombings and also for the bombing of the Nevsky Express high-speed train in November, which left 28 people dead.
The railway blast that derailed a cargo train in Dagestan was linked to the recent terrorist attacks that rocked Moscow downtown metro and the North Caucasian republic of Dagestan last week, a source with Russian security department disclosed Sunday.
Preliminary investigation suggested the railway explosion was a continuation of terrorist attacks by North Caucasus rebels that began on March 29, the unnamed official told the RIA Novosti news agency.
Investigation showed there were two explosions along the railway, according to the Federal Security Service (FSB).
The first explosion was caused by a device equivalent to five kg of TNT, creating a 110 by 25 centimeter crater. Another device, placed a few meters away and containing the equivalent of one kg of TNT, was intended to target the investigators, an FSB spokesperson said.
An explosion derailed eight cars of a cargo train in Russia's North Caucasian republic of Dagestan early Sunday. No casualties were reported.
The latest explosion followed the Moscow metro terrorist attack that killed 40 people and twin blasts in the Dagestani town of Kizlyar, which killed 12 people including nine police officers.
A Chechen rebel group, led by Doku Umarov, has claimed responsibility for the Moscow metro bombings. Russian security authorities believed the recent bombings were all plotted by the same group.
This is the baby-faced 'Black Widow' suspected of blowing up herself and scores of commuters on the Moscow underground this week.
Looking like an Islamic extremist version of Bonnie and Clyde, Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova, 17, and her husband, a notorious militant leader, pose with guns.
Abdurakhmanova became a widow last year when Umalat Magomedov, an Islamist rebel in the southern republic of Dagestan, was shot by Russian agents.
Police believe she blew herself up at the Lubyanka metro station on Monday, underneath the FSB security service headquarters, to avenge the deaths of those killed by Russian troops fighting rebels in the Caucasus region. The teenager, named in Moscow's Kommersant newspaper yesterday, and another suicide bomber killed 40 people in their attack. A further 90 were injured.
The second bomber is believed to be 20-year- old Markha Ustarkhanova, who last year ran away from her parents' home to marry warlord Said-Emin Khizriev, a rebel leader in war-torn Chechnya. He was killed in a Russian operation in October.
Abdurakhmanova's 30-year-old husband Magomedov died when traffic police began shooting down a car in which he and three other militants were travelling in in the town of Khasavyurt, Dagestan.
Monday's rush hour attack, in which Abdurakhmanova and an accomplice are believed to have detonated explosive vests 40 minutes apart, has prompted fears of a wave of Black Widow suicide bombings in Russia. These fears intensified on Wednesday when a bomb at a school in Dagestan, which borders Chechnya, left 12 people dead.
According to Russia's Kommersant newspaper, Abdurakhmanova's husband was the leader of a terrorist group in Dagestan linked to the Islamist movement of Doku Umarov, who today claimed responsibility for the metro bombings.
Umarov, who leads Islamic militants in Chechnya and other regions in Russia's North Caucasus, said in a video posted on a pro-rebel website that the twin suicide attacks were an act of revenge for the killing of civilians by Russian security forces.
He warned that attacks on Russian cities would continue.
Police released photographs of the facial remains of the two bombers this week. The woman who carried out the second bombing has not been identified but Kommersant claims it was a 20-year-old Chechen woman Markha Ustarkhanova.
Russian officials would not immediately confirm either identification claim. Umarov's statement claiming responsibility for the bombings was posted after prime minister Vladimir Putin vowed to 'drag out of the sewer' the terrorists who plotted the attacks.
Putin said it was likely the bombings in Dagestan could have been planned by the same group behind the Moscow attack. 'I don't rule out that this is one and the same gang,' he said at a televised Cabinet meeting. President Dmitry Medvedev later called the attacks 'links of the same chain'.
The bombings in Moscow were the first suicide attacks in the Russian capital in six years and shocked a country that had grown accustomed to having such violence confined to its restive southern corner.
Umarov blamed ordinary ssians for turning a blind eye to the killing of civilians in the Caucasus by security forces and warned that more attacks on Russian cities were coming.
'I promise you that the war will come to your streets and you will feel it in your lives, feel it on your own skin,' Umarov said in a video posted on kavkazcentre.com, a website affiliated with the rebels.
Officials at Russian law enforcement agencies refused to comment on Umarov's claim, but the Russian security chief has previously said that the tube bombings were carried out by militants from the Caucasus.
Moscow police have been on high alert since the attacks, beefing up roadblocks on roads leading into the city.
The agency's chief said yesterday that thousands of officers had been sent to patrol the subway, check on migrants from southern provinces and inspect warehouses that could hold arms caches.
'Black Widow': Suspected suicide bomber Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova poses with her husband Umalat Magomedov, who was killed in in December last year
The pair also posed in the undated pictures with Abdurakhmanova, this time wearing the full veil across her face, holding what appears to be a grenade
Aftermath: Rescue services and firefighters carry away injured victims after Monday's suicide attacks
Abdurakhmanova brandishes a gun wearing black Islamic dress, left, and right, the grainy picture which is understood to be her remains after Monday's suicide attack
Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the metro bombings and warned it could be followed by more attacks
Russian PM Vladimir Putin says catching those who organised Monday's suicide bombings in Moscow should be a "matter of honour" for investigators.
He said the security services, who have been widely criticised in the media, should drag the bombing masterminds "from the bottom of the sewers".
Russians are observing a day of mourning for 39 people killed in the rush-hour attacks on two Metro trains.
Officials have blamed the bombings on militants from the North Caucasus.
Tension remains
Russian media reports are linking the attacks to the death of a rebel leader from Ingushetia - Alexander Tikhomirov, also called Said Buryatsky.
He was killed by Russian security forces this month after being blamed for an attack on a train last year in which 26 people died.
Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted investigation sources as saying they believed Tikhomirov had recruited 30 suicide attackers from Ingushetia and neighbouring Chechnya.
Police fear that two of the bombers he trained might have blown up the Moscow trains to avenge his death.
The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says the main concern for Russia is whether Monday's bombings were the start of a new wave of attacks by rebels.
Security has been stepped up in the capital, as police are reported to be searching for three people sighted with the bombers.
The Metro is back up and running, but commuters say the city was not yet back to normal.
"I feel the tension on the Metro. Nobody's smiling or laughing," university student Alina Tsaritova told the Associated Press news agency.
Paying respects
The authorities say two female suicide bombers detonated explosives packed with pieces of metal.
Russian newspapers have published pictures of two dead women, purported to be the suicide attackers.
In the early 2000s, Russian cities were hit by attacks by women from the Caucasus known as "black widows" because their husbands were believed to have been killed by Russian soldiers.
Russian media have also published a CCTV image they say is a man suspected by police of helping in the attacks.
In a meeting with senior officials, Mr Putin urged investigators to find the organisers.
"We know they're lying low, but it's a matter of honour for law enforcement bodies to scrape them from the bottom of the sewers and into the daylight," he said.
Much of Mr Putin's political reputation was built on his tough stance against rebels from Chechnya while he was president.
His successor as president, Dmitry Medvedev, said the government would consider revamping anti-terrorism laws to try to prevent further attacks.
Continuing insurgencies
Some of the families of the victims have been expressing anger at their loss.
The grandmother of Valya Yegeazaryan, 17, who died in a hospital after the explosion at Park Kultury station, questioned what the authorities were doing to tackle militants.
"I cannot get my child back. There have been so many terrorist attacks, and yet what what have [the authorities] done?" asked Valentina Yegeazaryan.
"Some time passes, and then the same thing happens again."
Mourners lit candles and laid flowers at the sites of the blasts - the Lubyanka and Park Kultury stations.
As well as the 39 killed, some 70 people are reported to still be in hospital - some of whom are seriously hurt.
The co-ordinated attacks were the deadliest in Moscow since February 2004, when 40 people were killed by a bomb on a packed Metro train as it approached the Paveletskaya station.
Six months later, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside another station, killing 10 people. Both attacks were blamed on rebels from Chechnya.
The city's Metro is one of the busiest underground rail networks in the world, carrying about 5.5 million passengers a day.
Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov vowed last month to take the war to Russian cities.
More than 100,000 people have been killed in 15 years of conflict in Chechnya, and low-level insurgencies continue there and in the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan.
Below are list of terrorist attack on Russian
March 2010: Two suicide bombers blow themselves up at Lubyanka station and Park Kultury station, killing 39 people August 2004: Suicide bomber blows herself up outside Rizhskaya station, killing 10 February 2004: Suicide bombing on Zamoskvoretskaya line, linking main airports, kills 40 August 2000: Bomb in pedestrian tunnel leading to Tverskaya station kills 13 February 2000: Blast injures 20 inside Belorusskaya station January 1998: Three injured by blast at Tretyakovskaya station June 1996: Bomb on the Serpukhovskaya line kills four
A real-life Good Samaritan risked his life to push a stalled van off a railway level crossing a split second before a train passed over.
The quick-thinking man was the passenger on a motorcycle behind the white van, which stalled as it crossed the tracks.
After the van driver failed to get the vehicle moving, the man jumps off the bike and pushed it to safety - narrowly avoiding the train as he jumps back off the tracks. Security cameras captured the dramatic scenes in Tigre, north Argentinian capital Buenos Aires.
The hero appears to be stunned in the immediate aftermath but then punches the air when he realises he's saved the day and embraces his companion. The video received almost 70,000 views in just one day on YouTube, with viewers commenting on the man's amazing bravery.
One wrote: 'We need more guys like him in this world. Genuine Hero!', while another commented: 'I think that was COOL!!!!! we need more people like him in this world.'
Stalled: The van comes to the stop as the two men on the motorcycle look on
Stranded: After moving the van off the tracks, the man finds himself in the train's path.Bravery: Ignoring the train bearing down on him, the man pushes the van clear
Safe: The man darts clear, just inches away from death
Close call: The train pulls to a stop as the man runs clear
No visibility: Workers lift another damaged train after an almost identical crash in Kanpur, in which 10 people were killed
Crash: The scene after a train rammed into another at Saraibhopat near Etawah in India today as dense fog covered the north of the country
Dense: A cyclist peddles amidst morning fog in New Delhi
Rescue: Workers at the site of the accident in Kanpur today
Indians mill around a damaged coach after the Gorakhdham Express hit the stationary Prayagraj Express
A Kashmiri man rides a scooter during snowfall in Srinagar, India, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010. The higher reaches of northern Indian states of Jammu Kashmir received snow while other parts of northern India suffered from cold wave conditions.
Five passenger trains collided in three accidents amid dense fog in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh Saturday, killing at least 10 passengers and injuring more than 40.
Railway spokesman Rajesh Dutt Bajpai said the Gorakhdham Express rammed into the Prayagraj Express near the Panki railway station in Kanpur, 90km south of the state capital, Lucknow.
"The Prayagraj Express was standing near the station when the Gorakhdham Express hit it from behind due to reduced visibility owing to the fog," Bajpai said.
Officials at the Railway Ministry headquarters in national capital New Delhi confirmed that seven men and three women were among the victims.
Over 30 injured were moved to three local hospitals and the death toll was likely to rise as nearly a dozen passengers sustained "serious injuries."
Rescue operations continued till late in the afternoon after which the tracks were cleared of the coaches that had derailed after the impact.
In the second accident Saturday, the Lichchavi Express and the Magadh Express passenger trains collided in the eastern district of Etawah.
Thirteen passengers, including the train driver, were injured in the collision, the NDTV network reported.
Railway officials said visibility at both sites was only about 30 metres because of dense fog.
Later on Saturday, a third train accident due to fog involving Sarju Express and a railway maintenance trolley was reported from near the Allahabad city. Four people suffered minor injuries in the incident.
"Although fog appears to be the main reason behind the accidents, the railways has ordered probes into the accidents," Bajpai said.
"The commissioner of railway safety has been tasked with the investigations," he said. Railway authorities announced compensation of 500,000 rupees (USD10,730) to the families of those killed.
Scores of passengers were likely to be stranded at railway stations as traffic on the busy train route was suspended after the accidents.
Dense fog created havoc across India's northern regions on Saturday, hitting air and road traffic as well.
Three people died in road accidents in Delhi caused by the blinding fog, the IANS news agency reported.
Railway authorities said 54 trains, most of them connecting Delhi with other key northern cities were delayed.
More than 35 domestic and international flights were also delayed or cancelled, as no flight could take off or land for nearly eight hours from the Delhi international airport due to reduced runway visibility.
Several parts of four northern Indian states including Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir faced power cuts earlySaturday due to problem with the regional power grid.
Electricity was restored in most regions except the Kashmir valley by early afternoon, officials said.
At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured in three separate accidents involving trains in the fog-bound northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, police and railway officials said.
In the first accident, an inter-city express rammed into the back of a stationary passenger train near the town of Sarai Bhupat, 250 kilometres (155 miles) southwest of the state capital Lucknow.
Additional police director general Brij Lal said 10 passengers were injured including three whose condition doctors described as "grave."
Ten people were killed in the second accident 45 minutes later when two other express trains collided in similar fashion, around 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of Lucknow, Lal said.
Three of those killed were women, rail officials at the accident site said.
"We have rushed 37 injured passengers to hospitals but the condition of 12 of them is critical," officer Lal told AFP.
Senior railways official M.N. Srivastava said the impact in both train collisions had been minimised by the fact that the trains were travelling at low speeds because of the dense fog.
In a third accident, a passenger train slammed into a tractor at an unmanned rail crossing, officer Lal said, adding that three people on the tractor were injured in the mishap, near Allahabad city, also in Uttar Pradesh.
There were no injuries to passengers on the train, he said.
Visibility at the three accident sites was down to around 30 metres (100 feet).
The string of accidents threw train services into disarray across India, rail officials said in New Delhi.
Obsolete safety measures and unmanned crossings result in frequent rail accidents in India, where more than 13 million people travel on state-run railways every day.
Passengers wait at St Pancras Station in London after delays to the Eurostar train services, Saturday Dec. 19, 2009. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
A member of Eurostar staff, left, comforts a passenger as she waits at St Pancras Station in London after delays to the Eurostar train services, Saturday Dec. 19, 2009. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
Stationary traffic, heading for the Channel Tunnel, seen on the M20 near Folkestone, Kent, Saturday Dec. 19, 2009. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
Empty tracks seen at the Eurotunnel site, in Folkestone, Kent, Saturday Dec. 19 2009, as travel across the Channel was suspended. The Eurostar train service between Britain and France was suspended Saturday morning after more than 2,000 passengers were stranded for hours after four passenger trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. Initial reports blamed the breakdowns on wintry weather conditions on both side of the English Channel.
The only rail link between Britain and France was closed for testing Sunday, after a series of breakdowns trapped thousands in a tunnel for hours in claustrophobic conditions, train company Eurostar said.
The breakdowns of four trains in the Channel Tunnel on Friday evening and ensuing cancellations through the weekend were expected to affect some 50,000 people during the busy holiday travel season.
Passengers were stranded in the dark without food, water or air conditioning for more than 12 hours after the breakdowns, which were initially blamed on severe weather.
The company is running special trains through the tunnels in a bid to pinpoint the problem, press officer Anelle Mouhaddib said Sunday. She declined to say whether any trains had successfully made it through the tunnel, but a series of trains dispatched from London and Paris on Saturday evening were either canceled or broke down.
In addition to the 2,000 people trapped in the tunnel Friday night, a further 31,000 had had their trips canceled Saturday, and 26,000 more were expected to be affected Sunday, Mouhaddib said.
Eurostar's executives have offered apologies, refunds, free travel and more.
Officials have said that the quick transition from the icy cold of France, which is suffering some of its worst winter weather in years, to the relative warmth of the tunnel could have interfered with the trains' electrical systems. But the company's chief operating officer, Nicolas Petrovic, said the exact cause remains unclear.
"It's all a bit of a mystery and the company, and indeed a lot of people, appear baffled by it," said Nigel Harris, the managing editor of Rail magazine.
"What is really puzzling about this is the fact that it is happening now, even though the trains have been exposed to cold weather over the last few years, he said.
Comparable trains in France have "been going even longer than Eurostar without experiencing any of these cold-weather problems," he said.
Eurostar was making no promises to passengers trying to make it to their destinations before Christmas.
Service will be resumed "as soon as possible," Mouhaddib said.
