Two goods trains crash at Champaner, driver injured

Vadodara, Jan 5: Train movement between Vadodara and Delhi via Godhra was disrupted after the Tughlaqabad-bound container train crashed against a stationary Gandhidham-Shalimar goods train at Champaner station, about 45 km from here, in the early hours today.

According to Vadodara Divisional Railway Manager K L Pande, there was no casualty, except the driver of the Tughlaqabad-bound Rajdhani Special Goods train, Zaheer Khan, who sustained injuries.

The injured driver had been admitted to a local hospital and is stated to be out of danger.

Admitting that the cause of the accident was not immediately known, the DRM said four special accident relief trains along with senior engineers had rushed to the spot from Ahmedabad, Surat, Ratlam and Vadodara to carry out restoration work on a war footing.

As many as 13 wagons of both the trains jumped the rails, blocking both the 'Up' and 'Down' routes and inflicting heavy damage to the tracks, following the accident which occurred at around 05.30 hrs this morning.

The authorities had diverted all Delhi and Mumbai-bound trains via Anand and Dakor. It would take at least six to seven hours to complete the rail restoration work at the accident site as the lines were completely blocked with derailed wagons, Mr Pande said.

This is the second such accident to take place on the Vadodara-Godhra section of the Western railway in less than two years.

On April 21, 2005, the Varanasi-Ahmedabad Sabarmati Express dashed against a stationary goods train on loop line at Samlaya station, 15 km away from the present accident spot, killing 16 passengers and injuring about 150 others.

The Samlaya accident reportedly occured due to signal failure and 10 railway employees, including engineers and stations masters, found responsible by a departmental probe, were sacked.

UNI