The Mumbai Local train services on main Central Railways (CR) between CSMT and Kalyan were delayed by more than 14 hours after three coaches of a mail train derailed on Friday night, according to a report in Hindustan Times.
No injuries were reported of the incident. Railway officials have confirmed that there will be investigation if human error caused the collision.
The derailment led to 10 long distance trains being cancelled. Several other trains were rescheduled or short-terminated due to the incident.
Three coaches of the Dadar-Puducherry Chalukya Express derailed near Matunga station in Mumbai on Friday after a minor collision with Mumbai CSMT Gadag Express at 9.30 pm.
The Dadar-Puducherry Chalukya Express was entering on DOWN fast line from platform 7 of the Dadar Terminus, when the CSMT-Gadag Express, which departed around 9.30 pm, dashed it from the rear side on a crossing, the official said. A video of the incident which went viral on social media showed that the coaches of the two express trains brushed against each other before the derailment. Some passengers can also be heard alerting each other while this happens.
Due to SPAD, the train hit the Express. However, considering both the trains were at low speed, the damage was minimal and there were no injuries. The senior Central Railway officials said the enquiry into the incident has been ordered, and said prima facie it may be human error, but cannot be confirmed.
Shivani Sutar, Chief Public Relations officer of Central Railways, said, “A departmental enquiry will be conducted to ascertain what led to the incident. The report will answer the question of whether it was human error or not.”
Sutar added, “As per our general procedure, after any accident, the pilot or the motorman is kept away from duty. In this incident too, the same has followed.”
In a letter issued by the chief crew controller of the loco pilot, it stated, “While working on train no 11139, the loco pilot and assistant loco pilot failed to observe red aspects of signal. Consequently, there was a side collision.”
Around 300 to 400 railway personnel were present at the site where the re-railment work was going on till Saturday morning.
An official said, “One of the three coaches that derailed was re-railed in the night hours but remaining took time as there were technical challenges.”
Due to the derailment, local train services were briefly suspended between the CSMT and Dadar railway station. As overhead wires are shut down owing to the derailment, local trains on Central Railway are operating with delays.
According to railway officials, at around 10.45 pm, both slow lines up and down between CSMT and Kalyan were made operational. The up-fast line between Kalyan and CSMT was made operational at around 8.30 am on Saturday morning and by noon on Saturday, the down-fast line was made operational and services were pushed towards normalcy.
However, several slow and fast trains were running at a delay of 15 to 20 minutes and there was a lot of crowding at several suburban stations on Saturday morning. Due to this, the CR ran bus services from Thane and Mulund towards CSMT to decongest suburban railway stations.
Meanwhile, Shivaji Sutar, Chief Public Relations officer, also tweeted, “Restoration work has been completed and first train on affected down fast line 22159 CSMT- Chennai passing Matunga station at 1.10pm All lines are restored.”
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