Two officials suspended after coaches of Dhanbad Express derail during shunting | Kochi News
Kochi: Two railway staff have been suspended after the empty coaches of Dhanbad Express slipped off the tracks during shunting at Alappuzha station early on Friday. No injury or casualty was reported.“The station master and a pointsman have been suspended pending a detailed internal investigation into the operational lapse,” said a senior official.A preliminary probe said “wrong signalling” resulted in the accident, with a green signal given on track 3 instead of track 4.“A potential catastrophe was avoided because an incoming train on an adjacent line was delayed. Had the oncoming service arrived on schedule, the derailed coaches obstructing the clearance area could have triggered a collision,” the official said.During the incident, the train was out of passenger service and moving at a low speed within the maintenance yard. Two carriages slipped off the track, skidding nearly 40 metres along the concrete sleepers and damaging the rail infrastructure before coming to a halt. Fortunately, no passengers were on board, and the derailed coaches remained upright, preventing a severe rollover.The track was cleared and damaged sleepers were replaced before restoring normal train operations at the station after mandatory safety inspections.“The return service of the Dhanbad Express finally left at 8.45am instead of 6am,” the official said.A formal inquiry is currently under way to find the exact technical/manual error that caused the derailment.
