New Delhi  - At least three people were killed and 50 wounded when a passenger train derailed in India's eastern state of Orissa on Friday, media reports quoting police said.

Twelve coaches of the Coromandel Express overturned in the Jajpur area situated some 120 kilometres north of state capital Bhubaneshwar on Friday evening, the NDTV network reported.

Orissa police chief Manmohan Prahraj told the PTI news agency that three people were killed in accident and 50 injured.

He said several passengers of the super-fast train were believed to be trapped under the coaches and railway and police teams had reached the scene.

The accident may have occurred due to poor track maintenance, news channels reported.

The train, which originated in the eastern state of West Bengal was on its way to the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The accident occurred on the same day day that India's railway budget was presented and railway officials claimed that the accidents had come down to 194 from 325 in the past five years.

Indian Railways runs one of the largest rail networks in the world and its 8,500 trains carry 13 million passengers over 3,000 kilometres of railway across the country. (dpa)