Train services resumed in Howrah-Chennai route

Train services resumed on the busy Howrah-Chennai route on Sunday, 36 hours after derailment of the Coromandel Express claiming nine lives severely affected the rail traffic.
    
One track was thrown open to traffic on Sunday morning after removal of all mangled bogies and repair of power channels and rails near Jajpur-Keonjhar Road railway station, about 100 km from here, East Coast Railway (ECoR) officials said.
    
"The restoration was very quick. The task which should have taken at least 72 hours was completed in over 36 hours due to direct supervision of top officials, massive deployment of manpower and machines and cooperation of all," they said.
    
Stating that the second track would also be restored very soon, they said the trains which had been diverted since the accident on Saturday evening were now plying on their normal route.
    
About 500 personnel with three cranes and other sophisticated equipment had been pressed into service to clear the wreckage and put the damaged tracks back in shape. Rails of about half a kilometre stretch had been displaced under the impact of the derailment, the sources said.
    
Nine persons were killed and about 62 injured when 14 coaches of Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express jumped rails near Jajpur while changing tracks, leading to cancellation of some two dozen trains and diversion of as many.

A South Eastern Railway spokesman said in Kolkata that all but one south-bound train from Howrah resumed their normal schedule on Sunday.
     
The 2841 Up Coromandel Express has been rescheduled to leave Howrah at 2055 hours on Sunday instead of its scheduled 1450 hours, the spokesman said.
     
A special train would run in place of the 2839 Up Howrah-Chennai Mail, which has been cancelled. It will maintain the same timings and stoppages of the cancelled train, the official added.

Meanwhile, a senior ECoR official said in Bhubaneswar that the track-linking and overhead wire connection work was completed early on Sunday morning and subsequently the tracks were restored to ensure normal traffic movement on the route.
    
The first train to chug on the route after restoration of track was New Delhi-Puri Neelachal Express which was running on a diverted route after the Coromandel mishap.
    
Arrangements were made for sending Howrah-bound passengers stranded in Puri and other places due to cancellation and diversion of several trains by running a special train, another official said.
    
As the cause of the accident was not clear, the railways had ordered a high-level probe into the mishap to ascertain the reason. The inquiry report is required to be submitted within a week.
    
Despite severity of the accident, its impact could be minimised due to the prompt response by local residents in launching rescue and relief operations and proximity of the mishap site to a railway station, the sources said.
    
The magnitude of damage and loss of life was also restricted as the passengers were awake and alert when the train derailed, throwing 14 of its 24 bogies off the track.
    
About 45 of the injured were now being treated in various hospitals in Cuttack and Jajpur while the rest were discharged after first aid.