The passenger train (number 78408) hit the goods train (BCN-DANKUNI) running on the same track, leading to derailment of two coaches, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Coast Railway (ECoR), J P Mishra said.
"One body has been retrieved from the mangled coaches of the passenger train as rescue operation was taken up on a war footing," said Cuttack District Collector N C Mishra who visited the accident site.
Police and ECoR authorities undertook rescue operation and the injured were shifted to hospitals. Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) personnel have also joined them.
The number of injured is likely to go up as some passengers were stated to be trapped in the mangled coaches and efforts are on to pull them out, officials said.
More From This Section
Train services between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have been severely affected, railway officials said.
The passenger train was unusually overcrowded due to a strike by bus operators in the state, district officials said.
An ECoR report said some trains including Puri-Durg Express, Chennai-Howrah mail, Puri-Talcher Express and Puri-Sealdah Duronto Express will now be diverted via Naraj instead of Cuttack.
A relief train from Khurda Road have been rushed to the spot. Besides, a railway medical van and 10 ambulances were pressed into service, ECoR officials said.
Meanwhile, the railways have opened help line - 0674-2490670, 0674-2301525, 9437579238 - for information about the accident victims.