At least 15 people were killed and more than 40 others injured in a major rail mishap in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh Monday morning, a senior railway official said.

"The mishap happened at 05:00 a.m. when a freight train overshot a signal and rammed into a stationary Gwalior Intercity Express train head-on at Badarwaas in Shivpuri district of the state, amid heavy rains and poor visibility. The impact of the collision was such that three coaches of the passenger train piled up on top of each other," said the official.

"Some 15 passengers have been killed while those injured were admitted to a local hospital where the condition of some are said to be serious. The toll is likely to go up," the official added.

A probe has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of the mishap, according to the official.

Local TV channels showed footage of bodies being pulled out from the wreckage of the last three coaches of the passenger train by rescue workers who have been using cutters to reach the inside of the compartments badly damaged in the mishap.

The Railways have announced a compensation of 500,000 rupee (10, 000 U.S. dollars) to the families of each dead. Senior railway officials have also rushed to the are to supervise rescue operations.

Meanwhile, railway services have been disrupted in the area, and several trains have either been delayed or running three to four others late.

"Some trains have been diverted as well," the railway official said.

Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian Railways which operates over 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day across the country.

There has been a spate in train accidents over the last few months.

In August this year, at least four people were killed in a train accident in Faizabad, and in July, 63 were killed and more than 165 injured in Sainthia in eastern state of West Bengal when a speeding train hit the rear part of another stationary train at a railway station.

In May, 150 people were killed when a cargo train hit a derailed passenger train in West Bengal.