Fact Check: Viral Video of Train Accident Near Bikaner is Actually a Mock Drill

by Prantik Ali

A 90-second video has gone viral on social media, depicting a chaotic scene of what appears to be a train accident. In the footage, one train compartment is lodged atop another, and personnel, including police and railway staff, are seen attending to the injured, carrying them on stretchers, and attempting rescues. Towards the end of the clip, the narrator claims the incident occurred near the Bikaner-Lalgarh railway station.

Verified X user (@kapil_parod) posted the viral video, amplifying the claim that two trains had collided near the Bikaner-Lalgarh railway station. When this article was written, the post has accumulated more than 5 lakh views and has been re-shared more than 2,500 times. (Archive)

Another verified X user (@GuptaPragnya) also posted the viral claim. In her tweet, she highlights the urgent need for the railway minister to look into these affairs to ensure public safety. (Archive)

Several other users on X also amplified this claim, tweeting the video and calling for attention towards negligence in the Indian Railways. (Archives – 1, 2, 3)

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TV 13 Gujarati, a news media outlet, posted about the alleged incident on its Instagram page. The translated caption, in English, reads: “Two trains collided head on near Bikaner Lalgarh railway station. Rescue is in progress. The unfortunate people of this country do not even know that they are on the last journey of their lives.”

 

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A post shared by TV13 Gujarati (@tv13gujarati)

Other users also shared the claim on Instagram.

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Fact Check

We ran a reverse image search on one of the keyframes from the viral video, which led us to this news article by Patrika, a Hindi news outlet under the aegis of the Rajasthan Patrika Group.

The report, published on November 15, explains that a mock disaster-management drill was conducted by the Disaster Response Team (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Team (NDRF) at the Lalgarh station yard on the morning of November 14. The article, which is in Hindi, describes how a sleeper coach was mounted on top of another train compartment to simulate a train accident, thereby putting into motion a prompt rescue arrangement.

The article also mentions that the mock drill involved 47 volunteers acting as injured passengers, and rescue operations were completed in just over an hour. The exercise was closely monitored using drone cameras, and teams from the Signal and Telecom Department as well as the Disaster Management Room were involved.

To corroborate this, Alt News checked the official X account of the National Disaster Response Force. We noticed that this verified account had re-shared a post made by the NDRF Vadodara Unit, which reports on the mock-drill arrangement of a simulated train accident. The caption reads: “Team6NDRF participated in Joint Mock Exercise on “Rail accident” with Indian Railways & other stakeholders at Bikaner Junction, District–Bikaner, Rajasthan.”(Archive)

To sum up, a viral video is being amplified on social media with the claim that a horrific train accident in Bikaner has gone unreported, calling for accountability from Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Alt News investigated the claim and found that the video actually represents a mock-drill exercise simulating a railway accident.

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