Major rail accident averted in Santragachi: 2 coaches of track maintenance train derailed, slow speed became a ‘boon’, trains remained halted for hours

Kharagpur/Howrah, December 17: A major train accident was averted in Santragachi railway area on Tuesday night. Two coaches of a track maintenance train heading towards Santragachi rail yard suddenly derailed. It was fortunate that the speed of the train was low, due to which there was no loss of life or property. However, due to this incident, rail traffic was affected for a long time. According to South Eastern Railway sources, the track maintenance train that left from Padmapukur station towards Santragachi rail yard on Tuesday night fell victim to a technical glitch as soon as it reached Baksara level crossing. Meanwhile, two coaches of the train derailed. After the shock, the train stopped on the up line. Railway operations between Shalimar and Santragachi stations were disrupted after the incident. This also affected the Kharagpur division of South Eastern Railway. Many trains were already running late on the Howrah-Kharagpur railway route, so after this incident, trains had to run slowly on both the up and down lines. Senior railway officials reached the spot as soon as information about the derailment was received. An accident relief train was sent from Santragachi Railway Yard and restoration work was started on war footing. With efforts till late night, the coaches that had derailed were put back on the tracks. Railway officials said that due to the low speed of the train, no major accident occurred. A public relations officer of South Eastern Railway said that after the completion of the restoration work, train operations on the Howrah-Santragachi railway route have been overall normalized.