Traffic affected as goods train derails on Tatanagar to Kharagpur section of Howrah-Mumbai line

The movement of trains between the Tatanagar and Kharagpur section of the Howrah-Mumbai route remained partially affected for six hours as an express freight train derailed at Salgajhari West Cabin stop around 7.30 am on Saturday.

According to information shared by officials of Chakradharpur division, the locomotive of a goods train onward to Tatanagar derailed at Salgajhari, which is about 4 km from Tatanagar.

Further, the derailed engine stopped narrowly to avoid hitting the locomotive of another freight train, which was hurtling forward towards Tatanagar. "After overturning, the derailed engine came close to the locomotive of a freight train that was moving on a parallel track, a major accident was avoided," said a senior commercial official who oversaw the restoration work.

Further, the official said that the freight train that was unfortunately hit was carrying a commodity, but he did not know what exactly it contained. Senior DCM, Manish Pathak, said that due to the incident, the movement of trains remained paralysed on the ascending line, while the descending line was functional for the movement of trains running on both the ascending and descending lines.