King point on track could have caused Friday derailment, say CR officials

A coach derailed at Kalyan station due to a faulty 'king point' on the tracks, disrupting services. Investigations are underway; replacements planned soon.

MUMBAI: The Central Railway (CR) authorities suspect that the ‘king point’ on the tracks, which is used by trains to switch lines, was responsible for the derailment of a single coach at Kalyan station, which disrupted train services on Friday night. Railway officials said the king point was a crucial part of the tracks but also vulnerable to such accidents.

King point on track could have caused Friday derailment, say CR officials

“We are taking measurements of the tracks and trains to determine the cause,” said a senior CR official. “These king points, or double slip or double diamond crossings as they are also known, are vulnerable, and so we will be replacing them in the near future. Most of our large rail junctions have these crossings. The reason can be ascertained once the investigation report is out.” Sources said there were such points at Kalyan, Kasara and Thane stations.

“Local train services were affected on both sides, as the coach derailed at king point number 148 at the Kasara end of Kalyan’s Platform 2,” said Dr Swapnil Nila, chief PRO of CR. “Movement towards Karjat was restored after about an hour, and the mail express trains which were obstructing the movement of relief trains were diverted via Karjat-Lonavala-Pune-Daund and back to Manmad.” The repercussions of the mishap were felt on the Kalyan-CSMT route on Saturday morning as well since rail engineers were out inspecting the fitness of the tracks on Platform 2 and Platform 3.

The derailment on Friday night brought train services in the Kasara and Karjat section to a grinding halt on both sections of the Pune and Nashik corridors. Trains moved at snail’s pace, as there were multiple diversions and a lot of criss-crossing on the Thane-Kalyan corridor. Commuters complained of scant or no announcements inside the local trains. Many were forced to jump off the train and walk to the nearest railway station.

The train was heading to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus from Titwala when a coach went off the track and derailed at Kalyan. The rerailment was completed at 12.20 am, and an empty local train left from the derailment site at 12.40 am and cleared the affected Platform 2 at 12.42 am.