IT Correspondent
Mumbai, April 16:
In a freak accident, two long-distance trains on the Central Railway came on the same track and hit each other at a crossing between Dadar and Matunga, resulting in the derailment of three bogies of one of the trains on late Friday night.
The Dadar-Puducherry Chalukya Express was entering on DOWN fast line from platform 7 of the Dadar Terminus, when the CSMT-Gadag Express (Mumbai-Gadag (Karnataka), which departed around 9.30 pm, dashed it from the rear side on a crossing, the official said. As a result, three bogies of the Puducherry Chalukya Express were derailed, Central Railway (CR) chief spokesperson Shivaji Sutar said.
The Gadag Express was given a red signal, yet the train did not stop and rammed into the Puducherry Chalukya Express. There have been no injuries. A high-level inquiry committee has been set up to probe the incident, a senior railway official said.
Due to the accident, the overhead wires were snapped disrupting the local and outstation train services. The fast local trains were moved on the slow track. The passengers in both trains reportedly heard some loud sounds, along with sparks on the overhead electric wires.
This was the second derailment on the Central Railway section this month. Earlier, the Lokmanya Tilak-Jaynagar Express (Pawan Express) had derailed near Nashik in Maharashtra on April 3, 2022.
The Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh (MRPS) blamed the railway officials for the accident saying that although tracks No 5 and 6 are reserved for local trains, they are being used for mail and express trains by the railways. The mail and express trains should be run strictly on tracks No 3 and 4, MRPS President Madhu Kotian and General Secretary Siddhesh Desai said in a statement. Besides, it should be investigated why an Anti-Collision Technology failed and the guilty officers should be punished, they demanded.
A few years back, when Ram Naik was the railway minister, the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation was set up jointly by the Union and state government to deal with pending railway projects in Mumbai and adjoining areas, since the commuter load is tremendous. However, most of the projects are moving at a very slow speed. The process of even the land transfer is also yet to be completed for most of the projects, Desai said.
In the meanwhile, the incidents of the trains coming on the same track continue to occur occasionally on both Central and Western railway lines. On June 20, 2012, the local trains running in opposite directions had come on the same track near Bhayander on the Western Railway. A similar incident was reported on October 24, 2016, at Churchgate. Luckily due to the presence of the mind of the motormen, the major mishaps were averted.
