'Murderer Express': Railway's Translation Gaffe Changes Train's Name

Indian Railways became a topic of discussion on the internet after a picture of a board on the Hatia- Ernakulam Express with the name “Hatia” translated as “Kolapathakam” (murderer) in Malayalam went viral. Hatia is a place in Ranchi and the Hatia-Ernakulam Express runs between the two cities on a weekly basis.

“Shhhh, nobody tell them,” a social media user wrote sharing a picture of the board. “Too much dependence on Google Translate,” commented another user on the post.

The Railways authorities took action and covered the Malayalam word with yellow paint after the post went viral on the internet.

According to an India Today report, a Railways official said an error was made during the translation due to confusion over the Hindi word “Hatya”, which means “murder”.

Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Sr DCM) of Ranchi Division acknowledged the blunder and said that the wrong nameplate was corrected after it was brought to notice.