Bengal: Bikaner-Howrah train delayed due to damaged overhead equipment

Kolkata: An Overhead Equipment (OHE) mast bend and hanging incident was reported near Asansol East Cabin on Tuesday. Movement on the Up line was conducted with caution and an Emergency Power Block (EPB) was executed from Asansol East Cabin to Kali Pahari on the Down Main Line.

The incident took place at around 7:20 am and the train movement had to be stopped till 9 am. The affected train 22308 Down Bikaner to Howrah was moved from the place of incident at 9 am via the Down Main Line. The train movement via the Down Line was enabled after a tower wagon arrived and the emergency power block was completed.

Railway officials speculated that the door of a freight train may have remained open while passing the line and may have hit the electrical pole of the overhead wire leading to the incident. Seeing the condition of the overhead wire, the loco pilot reportedly pulled the brakes and information was sent to the authorities.

The incident led to bunching up of two trains and according to a Railway source the impact was less because there are more lines in the route and the trains could be passed from those.

Meanwhile, commuters faced problems on Tuesday after Metro services in the Green Line which connects Sealdah to Salt Lake Sector V were suspended for nearly an hour due to signalling problems.

The incident took place at 4:36 pm after data communication failed at the entire mainline, i.e. from Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah stretch of East-West Metro. The technical glitch resulted in train movement having to be suspended in the line. At 5:31 pm, the East-bound services were started with speed restrictions. For the West-bound services, train movement started at 5:44 pm. It is only from 6:25 pm that normal services in both directions could be resumed.