Three injured as 10 coaches of Jhelum Express derail near Phillaur
A major tragedy was averted on Tuesday early morning when ten coaches of the 11078 Jammu Tawi-Pune Jhelum Express were derailed (one pantry, B-5 and S1 to S8) at 3.10 am between Phillaur and Ladowal stations of Jalandhar-Ludhiana section of the Ferozpur division of northern railway.
Ten coaches of the 11078 Jammu Tawi-Pune Jhelum Express derailed (one pantry, B-5 and S1 to S8) between Phillaur and Ladowal stations of Jalandhar-Ludhiana section of the Ferozpur division of northern railway at 3.10am on Tuesday.
The injured have been identified as Arvind Yadav of Jhansi, Sandeep Kumar of Jhansi and Jai Parkash of Delhi.
Sources said a major tragedy was averted as the speed of the train was slow, as it had just moved out of the Phillaur railway station after a brief halt.
Divisional railway manager (DRM) Anuj Parkash, who rushed to the spot immediately after the incident, said it was a very tragic accident and 10 coaches out of 24 got damaged.
“Luckily, all passengers are safe. Only nine persons got minor scratches while three have been admitted to civil hospital with some minor head injuries,” he said. The three injured were in different coaches and were on their way back after paying obeisance at Vaishno Devi temple.
He further said,”An inquiry has been marked and at present sabotage is ruled out,” he said.
Following this, the railway cancelled 16 trains, 52 were affected.
Read | The complete list of trains that were cancelled, diverted
“The up line will be functional in the evening while downline might get operational on Wednesday morning,” DRM said.
Meanwhile, Northern railways general manager AK Puthia reached the hospital along with other senior officials and arranged buses for the passengers to continue their journey. A team of railway doctors was deployed at the hospital.
“We have offered the passengers to continue their journey by bus and expenses have been paid by railways,” he said.
Jai Kumar, manager of the eatery, who was sleeping with other employees in a coach, said, “It happened all of a sudden at the midnight. We all were sleeping and suddenly voices of screeching came and we fell on the floor when some coaches of the train got derailed,” he said.
He said authorities responded very sharply as within 10 minutes two ambulances and railway officials reached the spot and mounted a rescue operation.
The front intact portion of the train, that is, the engine and eight coaches, were moved to the next station after accommodating all the passengers for arranging their onward journey. The rear six unaffected coaches were moved to Phillaur.
Jhelum Express is a daily train, one of the oldest trains originating from Pune as it runs between Pune and Jammu Tawi. It was started in 1979 and first train that travels from Pune to New Delhi.
Railway launches helpline numbers for information
Jammu Tawi :01912470166
Jallandhar: 01812225966
Ludhiana:01612750501
Delhi :011-23342954
Amritsar:0183-2225087
Pathankot : 0186-2233532