Indian Railways has restored the train operations on the Delhi-Howrah Main line which got affected due to the derailment of Anand Vihar Terminal-Kamakhya North East Express. A total of four passengers lost their lives while more than 70 suffered injuries. The accident took place on Wednesday (October 11th) at 21:53 hrs near Bihar’s Raghunathpur railway station.
Resumption of Train services
The zonal railway resumed the rail traffic on the UP Line at 08:10 hrs while, the services on the Down Line resumed at 13:00 hrs on Friday. A goods train was the first to move on the restored down line at 17.12 hrs. As per the standard operating procedure, the zonal railways is allowing the limited movement of trains on the two tracks. The area falls under the administrative jurisdiction of East Central Railway’s (ECR) Danapur Division. The national transporter has regulated the movement of more than 30 Express/Passenger/EMU trains.
High-level Probe
The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), Eastern Circle, Kolkata will conduct a detailed probe to ascertain the cause behind the tragic accident. An initial investigation has found that the derailment was possibly caused due to fault in the tracks. The probe report has estimated the cost of damage due to the accident at more than Rs 52 crore. According to the report, the train was running at a speed of 128 km per hour. However, the final report will be based on the CRSs inquiry.
Compensation
Indian Railways has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. The Bihar government has also announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 4 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased.
About ANVT-Kamakhya North East Express:-
The ANVT-Kamakhya-ANVT North East Express covers a distance of 1856 km in 33:10 hrs. The train has four types of passengers accomodations – Sleeper Class, AC 3 Economy, AC 3 Tier, AC 2 Tier and AC First Class. The train operates seven days a week. On its journey, between the two destinations, the train halts at 28 railway stations.