Goods Train Derails In Odisha Days After Tragedy in Balasore

Several wagons of a goods train carrying limestone derailed near Sambardhara in Bargarh district, according to reports. However, no casualties have been reported so far.

"Some wagons of a goods train operated by a private cement factory derailed inside the factory premises near Mendhapali of Bargarh district in Odisha. There is no role of Railways in this matter," ANI quoted East Coast Railway in a tweet.

It further said that it is completely a narrow gauge siding of a private cement company. "All the infrastructure including rolling stock, engine, wagons, train tracks (narrow gauge) are being maintained by the company," East Coast Railway added.

This incident comes just days after the triple train collision in Balasore district. At around 7 pm on Friday, the crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train occurred near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar. As many as 17 coaches of these two passenger trains were derailed and severely damaged in the deadly accident.

The Balasore incident killed at least 275 people while leaving over 1,000 injured.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that a technical glitch with the signalling system was the cause of devastating train crash in Balasore district. "It is about point machine, electronic interlocking. The change that occurred during electronic interlocking, the accident happened due to that. Whoever did it and how it happened will be found out after proper investigation," he said on Sunday.

"The root cause of the horrifying incident has been identified... I do not want to go into details. Let the report come out. I will just say that the root cause and the people responsible have been identified," Vaishnaw said.

Addressing a press conference, top railway official Jaya Varma Sinha said "according to the preliminary findings, there has been some issue with the signalling. We are still waiting for the detailed report from the Commissioner of Railway Safety. Only Coromandal Express met with an accident. The train was at a speed of around 128 km/h."

Meanwhile, Indian Railways on Monday has started running passenger trains on the tracks in Bahanaga village in Odisha's Balasore, more than 51 hours after the triple train collision.

The service resumed on the repaired tracks after Indian Railways took restoration works on a war footing. On Sunday at 10.40 pm, the first train on the section started its journey, officials said. The goods train was seen off by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw as railway officials looked on.