Fact Check: Viral video of water splashing onto passengers at a railway station makes a false claim that it is recent
A video from 2017 of a speeding train splashing floodwater onto the commuters has gone viral claiming to be a recent incident
Summary: A video from 2017 of a speeding train splashing floodwater onto the commuters has gone viral claiming to be a recent incident
A video of a speeding train splashing water onto commuters standing on a platform in a railway station is going viral with a claim that the video shows a flooded Nala Sopara railway station in Mumbai. Several social media users are sharing this video as recent and shot during heavy rains in 2023.
The 24-second video is shared with the caption “Nala sopara train station >>> Imagica water park”. While few users have shared it with the caption “Mumbai ka Nala sopara railway station Bana water park”.
Fact Check:
The claim is misleading. Though the video shows flooding in Nala Sopara railway station in Viraar, Mumbai, the video was first posted five years ago.
When we searched the key frames extracted from the video using Google reverse images search, we found that it has been shared on various platforms of social media in 2017.
The longer version of the video was shared by a YouTube channel named Viral Hog on September 22, 2017, with the caption “Train station Water Ride”. The description of the video states the experience of the commuters which goes: “We were standing on the Platform of Nala Sopara Railway Station near Mumbai, and a train was passing by. Due to heavy rains in the city, the water had risen around the railway track. Instead of slowing down or stopping the train, the motorman actually made the train pass speedily from the station. This created havoc among the public standing on the platform. All the water splashed on the commuters standing on the platform." The description also states that the incident occurred on September 20, 2017, at Nala Sopara railway station in India.
Taking the cue, when we searched further for news reports, we also found a video report published by NDTV India on September 21, 2017. The report states that it shows a video of a train rushing past a flooded station which has gone viral on social media. Filmed at Nala Sopara station on the outskirts of Mumbai, the train zooms past the station creating a splash of water from the tracks engulfing the entire platform and leaving unsuspecting commuters drenched.
The same video was also shared by Outlook India on its Twitter account on September 20, 2017, with the caption “Train running on waterlogged railway tracks at Nalasopara railway station in Mumbai.”
According to a report published by Hindustan Times, the Western railway authorities have found that the outstation train passed the flooded tracks of Nala Sopara station compromising the safety of the passengers on board and those at the station. The train travelling on the waterlogged tracks was Jaipur Superfast, at a speed of 110kmph. This incident occurred after the Virar station master forgot to inform the driver that a caution had been issued stating that all trains should run at a speed of 8 kmph owing to heavy rainfall. The station master and also the loco pilot of the train were suspended after the incident.
Hence, the claim that the video shows a recent incident at Nala Sopara railway station is misleading. It happened in September 2017.