Nagpur: The Pune-bound Azad Hind Express derailed near Nagpur Railway Station on Thursday. A major tragedy was averted as the train was moving at a slow speed when three wheels of the locomotive moved off the track at Diamond Crossing while aligning to arrive at Platform No. 3. The travellers felt a jerk and for a while they panicked when the locomotive jumped off the track.
According to Railways, on Thursday, around 6 pm, the three front wheels of the locomotive jumped the track. No one was injured nor was there any major damage to the equipment. Movement of trains in the yard is under caution order and hence in spite of the derailment not much damage occurred. Since the train was being admitted for berthing, the speed near D Cabin is between 10 and 30 km/hr and hence the moment wheels moved off, emergency brakes were applied by the crew. The train crew alerted the Operations Control who sounded the hooter, that signals emergency.
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Thursday 09 Jan. 2025
Accident Relief Train (ART) crew assembled at the Nagpur Yard and they attended to the Azad Hind Express. The train rolled on to Platform No. 3 at around 7.30 pm. For travellers, it was a horrid time as the train was already running quite behind the schedule owing to technical problems and started losing time from Chakradharpur station. The train’s scheduled arrival at Nagpur Station is 3.55 pm, but it arrived around 6 pm and thereafter lost another two hours due to the derailment. The train later arrived at Platform No. 6.
The Platforms No. 3 and 4 at Nagpur Railway Station cater to movement of trains in East-West-East direction of the country. As the crossover got blocked, several incoming trains from Kalamna and Itwari got detained at various sections over neighbouring South East Central Railway (SECR) Nagpur Division, it is learnt.
Meanwhile, a statutory inquiry will be conducted to determine the cause of the derailment and fix the responsibility on the department concerned. The spot where the derailment occurred is notorious and it was quite infamous for such incidents. After internal discussions and deliberations, the Diamond Crossing was refitted with steel plates to replace the wooden sleepers.
