In a minor mishap that luckily did not turn into a disaster, six engine wheels of 12264 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Pune Duro-nto Express, on its way to Pune, derailed after a boulder fell on the tracks between Thakurwadia and Monkey Hill section near Khandala early on Friday morning.
The incident took place at around 6.08 am in the Mumbai division of the Central Railway. However, there were no cases of injuries to passengers or traffic congestion on the railway lines as a third railway track was available for other trains.
Once the incident was reported by the driver, divisional railway manager of Mumbai division Mukesh Nigam, along with other railway officials, including track engineers, rushed to the spot and supervised the re-railing operations. A few officials from the railway protection force also accompanied Mr Nigam.
“The train was hauled back with an assisting engine and it resumed its journey to Pune at
around 10.35 am. The derailed engine was re-railed at 11.20 am,” stated a Central Railway press release.
It added that due to the incident, 12263 Pune-Hazrat Nizamuddin Duranto was rescheduled and left Pune at around 7.50 pm, instead of 11.10 am on Friday. The CR also opened a helpline at Pune and Mumbai and a special booth was opened at Pune to disseminate information.
A senior CR official said, “We carried out a thorough inspection of tracks and the terrain around it before the monsoon, especially the area adjacent to the Ghats. However, we have not developed a mechanism by which a landslide can be predicted.” Passengers who esca-ped unscathed on Friday demanded a thorough supervision of the tracks.
“The boulders could have fallen on the running train. The railway administration should consider it to be a wake up call and should again start monitoring tracks that especially run through the Ghats,” said Subhash Gupta, a Zonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC) member of Central Railway.