Passengers of the 01062 Darbhanga-Mumbai Express had a narrow escape as six coaches and its locomotive derailed in the mountainous Thal ghat section near Kasara early morning on Friday.
Passengers of the 01062 Darbhanga-Mumbai Express had a narrow escape as six coaches and its locomotive derailed in the mountainous Thal ghat section near Kasara early morning on Friday.
The entire section of Thal ghat has many tunnels and viaducts. Though there were no major injuries, officials said a few passengers suffered minor injuries and were given first-aid.
Though railway officials said they were not able to ascertain the cause of the derailment immediately and had begun investigations, sources said that a welding fault leading to a crack in the long-welded rail tracks could be one of the reasons of the accident. “The cause of the investigation is yet to be ascertained,” a CR spokesperson said.
“Opened in the 1860s, the ghat section between Kasara and Igatpuri runs through a number of tunnels and a mountainous terrain, including the large Ehgaon viaduct in the section and the accident could have led to a major disaster if the train was faster,” an official said.
“Passengers from the affected coaches were shifted to other coaches and the remaining coaches of the train reached Lokmanya Tilak Terminus at Kurla at 7.50am. Passengers of other trains were detrained at Igatpuri and road transport arrangements are also being made. Additional suburban services are being run between Kasara and Kalyan,” a CR press release said.
“We are yet to pin-point the exact cause of the derailment. The line was cleared and section was thrown open by 2pm,” chief spokesperson Vidyadhar Malegaonkar said.
The East Central Railway (ECR) opened helplines in Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Hajipur to provide information about the passengers travelling by the train.
The helpline phone numbers are 06272-252529 in Darbhanga, 0621- 2215232 in
Muzaffarpur and 06224-272230 in Hajipur.
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