Madhuresh Kumar, General Manager, East Central Railway, has now said that it was not possible to "escort every train." A passenger train headed from New Delhi to Assam derailed early this morning in Bihar, killing four people. In another accident in the state, a freight train went off the tracks; there were no casualties in that accident.

Former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, had slammed the NDA government saying, "I know that a pilot engine is run 30 minutes ahead of Rajdhani Express trains. This is done to check whether the line is clear and tracks are safe. It seems this was not done in this case and the accident happened," he said.

"This is a clear cut case of negligence by railway officials. I want to know why the pilot engine was not run on the tracks before the Rajdhani Express was scheduled to cross the area," he added.