Rail traffic between Kalyan and Kasara, which got affected after Thursday night’s accident between Vidarbha Express and a suburban local, is likely to be restored by Saturday morning.
An inquiry has already been launched by the Commission of Railway Safety. According to railway officials, the restoration work will be completed by 1.30 am on Saturday.
Due to the incident, long distance rail traffic was diverted via the Kalyan-Pune and Diva route on Friday. The railways along with the state transport plied extra buses to ferry stranded passengers of long distance trains that terminated at Kasara.
According to officials, the incident occurred due to a landslide near Umbermali, leading in the derailment of a local. The express train, which was travelling on the same track in the opposite direction, only had 117 seconds to apply the brakes to avoid a collision with the derailed local and ensure minimum damage, Central Railway’s general manager Subodh Jain said. Mr Jain visited the site of the accident on Friday. “The presence of mind shown by the driver of the Vidarbha Express resulted in only one of the coaches of the outstation train piling on top of the other. He only had 117 seconds between the 11 coaches of the suburban local derailing and the collision occurring,” he said. Fortunately, the motorman of the local and the engine driver, escaped unhurt.
One person was killed and 14 others injured in the incident. Railway minister Mukul Roy has announced an ex-gratia of `5 lakh to the next of kin of the dead and `1 lakh each to those who are critically injured. Those with minor injury will get `25,000.
This is not the first time that a train accident has occurred due to landslides in Kasara section. Last year, three compartments of an express train had derailed due to a landslide between Igatpuri and Kasara.