Citizen’s Corner: Derailed goods train delays Rajdhani Express
By Utkarsh Sakhalkar*
We were travelling from Mumbai to New Delhi on the Rajdhani Express (Train Number 12951) and it was unexpectedly halted for over an hour near Vrindavan Road railway station today morning.
We found out that there was a derailment of a goods train yesterday. The goods train was carrying coal and was running on the middle track when it derailed. We were told that at least 25 coal-laden wagons were derailed when the freight train was heading to the Suratgarh Thermal Power Plant in Rajasthan. The derailment happened at 8:18 pm between Vrindaban Road and Ajhai railway stations in the Agra division of the North Central Railway zone.
We found that the derailment had caused damage to the track and blockage of three of the four tracks there. Officials present there said the derailment hit services of around 30 trains on the route Delhi-Agra route
Because of the derailment the trains on the route were delayed and ran late since yesterday as only a single track was being used for going either way.
When we were waiting at the siding, there was another train that had reached before us. That too after waiting for 45 minutes, left before us and then another Rajdhani Express train (Delhi-Bengaluru) also arrived and stopped next to us.
Precisely 1 hour and 10 minutes later, we finally got the green signal and started our onward journey towards New Delhi railway station. We reached the New Delhi railway station 1.5 hours late. While the scheduled arrival time was 8.30 am, we finally reached our destination at 10 am.
When our train crossed the derailment area, we took a video of the work that was being carried out by the Northern Railway staff to clear the railway tracks. We were also informed by some railway officials that an inquiry committee will probe the derailment of the goods train.
*The writer is a Navi Mumbai-based entrepreneur
