9 coaches go off track in 2 derailments in UP, Delhi

Sonbhadra/New Delhi: Two trains went off the tracks — one in the national capital and the other in Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra — within hours of each other on Thursday, latest in a string of derailments that saw the exit of Suresh Prabhu as the Railway minister.

The first derailment occurred around 06:25 am, when seven coaches of Jabalpur-bound Shaktipunj Express jumped the tracks near the Obra Dam station in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, in third such mishap in the state within a month.

There was no report of any injury in the mishap, Railway ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena said in New Delhi.

As the train, which was coming from Howrah, went off the track, the rail traffic on the Chaupan-Singharauli route was disrupted.

Soon afterwards, the engine and power car of the Ranchi- Delhi Rajdhani Express derailed near Minto Bridge at 11:45 am as it was approaching the Delhi station, injuring one person and raising questions about the safety of passengers.

Platform number 15 at the Delhi station was closed for restoration work, a railway official said.

Even as the authorities and the passengers dealt with the aftermath of these two derailments, another news came, again from UP, that a fracture in the track was detected between Farrukhabad and Fatehgarh, minutes before the Kalindi Express was scheduled to pass.

Alert locals managed to get the Delhi-Kanpur Kalindi Express stopped before the damaged portion of the track, police officials said.

Sonbhadra, which shares borders with four states (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh Jharkhand and Bihar), has a history of Left-Wing Extremist activities. But Additional Superintendent of Police Awadesh Singh ruled out any Naxal angle behind the derailment of the Shaktipunj Express.

Official sources said the train was running at a speed of about 40 km/hr which might have prevented any injuries being caused to the passengers.

East Central Railway PRO RK Singh said the seven rear coaches of the train had derailed. They were later detached and traffic resumed at the derailment site.

All passengers were accommodated in the remaining coaches and the train left within an hour, officials said.