Two goods trains derailed in Jharkhand, services hit

Two goods trains derailed early on Saturday between Chandil and Nimdih stations in Jharkhand’s Seraikela-Kharsawan district, under South Eastern Railway’s Adra division. Over 20 wagons of one goods train came off the tracks and collided with the other train moving in the opposite direction on the double-line section, leading to derailment of some of its wagons. No injuries have been reported so far.

The derailment caused major disruption to train movement on both up and down tracks from Chandil, severely affecting the Chandil-Tatanagar section of the Adra division. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Vikash Kumar confirmed that restoration work is underway to clear the tracks and resume normal operations at the earliest.

Several express trains have been cancelled or diverted as a result of the accident. Cancelled trains include the 20897/20898 Howrah-Ranchi-Howrah Vande Bharat Express, 20894 Patna-Tatanagar Vande Bharat Express, 18183 Tatanagar-Buxar Express, 13301/13302 Dhanbad-Tatanagar-Dhanbad Express, and 28181/28182 Tatanagar-Katihar-Tatanagar Express. Additionally, three MEMU passenger trains operating between Tata-Asansol and Tata-Hatia have been cancelled for the day.

Some express trains have been rerouted to alternate routes to minimize delays. The Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express is being diverted via Jharsguda, Rourkela, Nuagaon, Hatia, Bokaro Steel City, and Rajabera. The Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Purushottam Express is rerouted through Hijili, Modinagar, Adra, Bhojudih, and Gomoh. The LTT-Howrah Express stranded between Chandil and Kandra is being short-terminated and diverted via Tata-Kharagpur-Howrah.

This derailment follows a recent incident earlier this month when two coaches of the 15269 Muzaffarpur-Sabarmati Jan Sadharan Express derailed at the Kanpur-Tundla section of the Prayagraj Division. Meanwhile, the East Central Railway’s Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Division successfully conducted a trial run of ‘Rudrastra,’ Asia’s longest freight train, measuring 4.5 km in length, which marks progress in rail freight operations.