N ine persons were killed and 72 others injured when a speeding passenger train rammed into a stationary train here, leading to derailment of five coaches.

The Chennai Beach-Vellore Cantonment Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit train rammed into the Arakkonam-Katpadi passenger from behind as it was waiting for a signal at Chitheri station, about 90 km from Chennai, around 9.40 pm on Tuesday night, police and railway officials said.

Of the nine killed, bodies of seven have been recovered and efforts were on to retrieve the other two buried under the mangled bogies, Inspector General of Police (north zone) Shailendra Babu said.

He said nearly 100 people including the driver of the MEMU train were injured and of them 83 were admitted to nearby Arakkonam Government hospital. Later, 25 injured were shifted to Chennai for treatment, he said, adding "all of them are out of danger".

Southern Railway General Manager Deepak Krishnan said the MEMU driver had apparently ignored the signal and speed restrictions.