The restoration work on the Bhadrak-Cuttack section under the Khurda Road division of East Coast Railway (ECoR) has been completed. Train services in this section were completely disrupted due to derailment of the Howrah-Chennai Coromandal express near Jajpur-Keonjhar Road station on February 13.
The restoration work which was supposed to take 60-70 hours could be completed within 30 hours due to continuous efforts of the railway staff, cooperation of the local people as well as active guidance of AK Goyal, general manager, ECoR.
The trains which have started running on their normal path following the completion of restoration work include the 2816 New Delhi-Puri Neelachal express and 2704Secunderabad-Howrah Falaknuma express.
2703 Howrah-Secunderabad Falaknuma express, 8645 Howrah-Hyderabad East
Coast express and 2841 Howrah-Chennai Coromandal express will run on their normal path. The 2875 Puri-New Delhi Neelachal express has been rescheduled to leave Puri at 4:00 pm instead of its scheduled time and will run on its normal path.
Following the derailment of the Howrah-Chennai Coromandal express, the trains in the Bhadrak-Cuttack section were either cancelled, short-terminated, diverted or rescheduled.
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For the convenience of the stranded passengers, ECoR is running a special train between Puri and Howrah. This train left Puri at 10:00 am and is running on the Bhadrak-Cuttack section towards Howrah. In all, ECoR has arranged three special trains in the aftermath of the derailment of Howrah-Chennai Coromandal express for carrying the passengers towards their destinations.
Meanwhile, a high-level probe has been ordered into the derailment of 12 coaches of the Howrah-Chennai Coromandel Express. The probe would be conducted by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) and the final report is expected within four days, said sources.
Earlier R Velu, the Union minister of state for Railways had visited the site of the accident and supervised the rescue operations. The minister had announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and employment for one of the members of the family of the deceased, Rs 50,000 for seriously injured passengers and Rs 10,000 for passengers who sustained minor injuries. Asked on the possible reasons for the mishap, Velu said it could be technical, human error or any other factor. After taking stock of the situation at the site of the accident, Velu also went to the Jajpur hospital and enquired about the condition of the injured.
The train derailment claimed the lives of nine passengers besides injuring 62 others. Out of the 62 injured passengers, five were seriously injured. Medical teams and ambulances were mobilised from Jajpur, Cuttack and adjoining districts to take the injured persons to the hospitals.
The Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik also visited the site of the mishap and directed the officials to expedite the rescue operations. Later, Patnaik visited the injured passengers at Jajpur and Cuttack and enquired about their condition.
The chief minister had deputed two Cabinet ministers to the accident site immediately after the mishap and ordered for despatch of the Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) unit, ambulance and gas cutter to the spot.