The Golconda Express passenger service from Guntur to Secunderabad was scheduled to stop at Warangal station mid-morning, but the driver failed to halt the train.
He claimed that the brakes stopped working long before the service arrived at Warangal, and that his train was supposed to have been put onto a loop line around the station until the problem was fixed.
This was done, but due to the speed, it jumped over the loop line and onto the road below the bridge situated just after the station as the driver lost control.
The engine and two carriages broke through a concrete barrier and fell to the crowded street below, crushing several cars, market stalls and rickshaws.
The problem was believed to be the result of faulty brakes and poor communication between the train and the officials at Warangal station, neither of whom understood the full situation.