THE train derailment in eastern India that killed more than 300 people and injured hundreds more was caused by an error in the electronic signalling, India’s railways minister said today.

The error on Friday night caused a train to wrongly change tracks and collide into a goods train.

The collision, in Balasore district of eastern Odisha state, flipped the Coromandel Express’s coaches onto another track, causing the incoming Yesvantpur-Howrah Express from the opposite side to derail, triggering a three-train collision.

The passenger trains were carrying 2,296 people total.

Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the New Delhi Television network: “Who has done it and what is the reason will come out of an investigation.”

Fifteen bodies were recovered on Saturday evening and efforts continued overnight as heavy cranes were used to remove an engine that had settled on top of a rail car. 

No bodies were found in the engine and the work was completed on Sunday morning, said Sudhanshu Sarangi, director-general of fire and emergency services in Odisha.

Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.

Chaotic scenes erupted on Friday night as rescuers climbed on top of the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to try to save people who were trapped inside the rail cars.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site on Saturday to examine the relief effort and talk to rescue officials. 

He also visited a hospital where he asked doctors about the treatments being given to the injured and spoke to some of the patients.

Mr Modi told reporters he felt the pain of those who suffered in the accident. He said that the government would do its utmost to help them and strictly punish anyone found responsible.

Amitabh Sharma, a Railroad Ministry spokesperson, told reporters that 12 coaches of one train derailed.

In 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in one of the worst train accidents in India. 

In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.

Train accidents in India are often blamed on human error or outdated track-side signalling equipment.

More than 12 million people travel on some 14,000 trains across India every day, travelling on 64,000 to 40,000 miles of track.