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Central Railway ends 2018 with a 'bang'; another derailment at Matheran

Sources said the train had arrived at the station and passengers had alighted and were passing through the bulb-shaped loop line when the coaches derailed.

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One of the derailed coaches
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The Central Railway ended this year with a derailment. The 111-year-old Matheran toy train turned out to be a headache for the thousands of tourists who arrived at Matheran on Monday to celebrate the new year at this hill station. This will be the fourth derailment at Matheran in less than a month.

On Monday, three coaches of the toy train, including the new green coach and the two regular blue ones, derailed. This incident took place at around 3 pm as several people were waiting for the next trip.

Sources said the train had arrived at the station and passengers had alighted and were passing through the bulb-shaped loop line when the coaches derailed.

The bulb-shaped loop line is circular in nature and very steep, which is probably why the coaches — which were on a crossover — derailed. All four wheels (two axels) of the particular coach were in the air as it tilted dangerously.

The other two — the green and blue coaches — also derailed from the tracks in a cascading effect. "The coaches derailed while they were being shunted. No injuries were reported," said Sunil Udasi, Chief PRO, Central Railway.

Earlier this month there were three other derailments at Matheran. On December 21 and 20 there were two separate incidents of derailment. On December 21, the newly inaugurated AC coach of the toy train derailed as the wheels slipped off the tracks. A day prior to this, another regular coach had gone off track. On December 9, too, a coach had derailed at Jummapatti station on this route.

Passengers and activists have raised questions on the safety of passengers taking these trains and the quality of work done by the Central Railway. "It is really surprising that it has barely been three months since resuming toy train services after monsoon and already there have been five cases of the coaches jumping the tracks. At many stretches along the route, the toy train runs close to the edge of the hill," said S Patil, who frequents Matheran.

The 1907-launched railway line is already on the tentative UNESCO world heritage list.

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