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Goods train wagon derails in Ludhiana, Shatabdi among affected trains
The derailment occurred around 10.40am after the train carrying fertilisers departed from the Ludhiana railway station towards Bhagtanwala and Gurdaspur.
A major tragedy was averted after a wagon of a goods train derailed near the Domoria Bridge in Ludhiana on Tuesday morning.
The wagon, 31st among 42, kept moving for over 150 metres, damaging around 100 concrete sleepers placed below the tracks before coming to a halt.
The derailment occurred around 10.40am after the train carrying fertilisers departed from the Ludhiana railway station towards Bhagtanwala and Gurdaspur.
As the derailment occurred on the up line towards Jalandhar and Amritsar, around a dozen trains, including the New Delhi-Amritsar Swarna Shatabdi (12029), were affected on Tuesday, leaving passengers at the receiving end. The Malwa Express (12920) was cancelled.
On Tuesday, the trains including Katihar-Amritsar Amrapali Express (15707), Nangal Dam (14506), Shan-e-Punjab Express (12497), Sarbat Da Bhalla Express (22497) and several other trains were halted at the Ludhiana railway station and on the outskirts for over an hour as only one track was available for the movement on the up line from both the directions. The trains were moved one by one from the down line towards Delhi till the passage on the up line was cleared.
Due to this, the passengers travelling in the Katihar-Amritsar Express were left stranded for over three hours at the railway station while the Nangal Dam train was halted for around two hours.
Those travelling in the Shan-e-Punjab and Swarna Shatabdi remained stranded for around an hour. The Swarna Shatabdi reached the railway station at 11.28am as per its scheduled timings but was halted for over 46 minutes and departed at around 12.20pm. The train reached its next stop, Phagwara, an hour late. The Shan-e-Punjab Express departed from the station at 1.16pm, over one hour late from the scheduled timing (12.07pm).
Stranded and clueless
The passengers waiting to reach their destination were not aware of the reason behind the trains not departing from city railway station. They were seen rushing to stall workers and different department to enquire about the matter.
Veer Sharma, who was travelling in Shan-e-Punjab Express from Ambala and was to reach Beas, said, “It has been around an hour that train is halted at the station. According to the scheduled timing, I was to reach my destination at 1.35pm but it is already 1.15pm at Ludhiana. I do not know how much more time it will take.”
Similarly, a passenger, Jagjit Singh who was travelling in the Amrapali Express, said that it had been over two hours since they were waiting for the train the move. “We are travelling from Yamunagar to Amritsar. Now, we are planning to go by bus as we do not know how much time we will wait here,” he said.
Station director Tarun Kumar said many trains had been affected after the derailment. Though the line was cleared for movement of trains at 4pm, some repair work is being carried out,” he said.
