The train was going from Mumbai to Tughlakabad and was part of the railways' Container Rajdhani (ConRaj) concept of freight trains travelling at higher speeds than usual on the Mumbai-Delhi route.
Long-distance traffic on Western Railway was stalled all through Monday morning after 11 wagons of a container train derailed near Dahanu Road, about 121 kilometres from Churchgate station. The incident happened around 2.50am and both lines — towards and away from Mumbai — were blocked.
The train was going from Mumbai to Tughlakabad and was part of the railways' Container Rajdhani (ConRaj) concept of freight trains travelling at higher speeds than usual on the Mumbai-Delhi route.
While a top-level inquiry team got down to investigating the reason for the derailment, a likely cause, according to some WR officials, was that a piece of rail that holds onto a joint between two pieces of welded tracks was loose.
"This check rail is part of a mechanism called the Switch Expansion Joint (SEJ) that helps maintain the technical parameters of a piece of track through hot as well as cold weather. It takes care of the natural expansion and contraction the metal undergoes during summer and winter, respectively. It is possible that the check rail of the SEJ had just three of its five bolts tight. That could be a reason," said an official.
While senior officials rushed to the spot and also brought in accident relief trains from Valsad and Udhna by 4.30pm, the extent of the damage meant that the lines couldn't be restored till late afternoon. "Three overhead equipment masts got damaged due to which power lines were affected. Secondly, two points (an equipment that controls the direction of the train on a particular track) on both the lines were damaged extensively. All this meant that even after the containers were removed from the tracks, we couldn't have started the train movements immediately," said an official.
The trains coming towards Mumbai that were stranded on various stretches of the route beyond Dahanu were later brought in with the help of diesel engines over a loop line that runs parallel to this stretch of tracks.
WR, in a statement released around 6.30pm on Monday, said special refund counters were set up at Mumbai Central, Bandra Terminus, Borivli, Surat, Valsad and Dahanu Road stations; amount to the tune of Rs30 lakh has been refunded so far. Efforts are going on in full swing for the early restoration of Up and Down Main lines and it is likely to be restored by Tuesday morning, the statement added.
Bad anniversary for train driver
The loco pilot driving the train Sushil Kumar (40) will not forget July 4 in a hurry. Kumar's employment records with the Western Railway show that he was inducted into the railways exactly on the same day way back in 2005. He was promoted to the grade of Loco-Pilot Goods (LPG) on November 6, 2013.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Railway")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}