Normal train services restored after derailment of Agartala-Mumbai train in Assam

Guwahati/Agartala, Oct 18 (IANS) After the derailment of six coaches, engine and the power car of Agartala-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express on Thursday at Dibalong in Assam, the normal train services were restored on Friday in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill section, officials said.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said that SMVT Bengaluru-Agartala Express became the first train to pass through the accident-affected section at Dibalong.

“Normal train services in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill section that were affected due to the derailment of Mumbai bound Agartala-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express on Thursday have been restored on Friday,” Sharma told IANS.

He said that special train, food and water were arranged for the stranded passengers.

NFR officials said that no casualties or major injuries have been reported, only some people sustained minor injuries.

The officials said that the Mumbai-bound Agartala-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express left Agartala station on Thursday morning. Six coaches, the power car and the engine, went off track in Dibalong at around 4 p.m.

An accident relief train and an accident relief medical train immediately reached the accident site from Lumding along with senior officials of the Lumding Division to supervise the rescue and restoration works.

After the accident, the movement of trains on the Lumding-Badarpur single-line section was suspended on Thursday.

The CPRO said that as a result of the derailment, many trains were cancelled, short terminated and rescheduled on Thursday.

The cancelled trains include Guwahati-New Jalpaiguri Special train, Rangiya-Silchar-Rangiya Express, New Jalpaiguri-Guwahati Special train and Silchar-Guwahati-Silchar Express.

Due to the derailment of coaches, train services between Manipur, southern Assam, Tripura and Mizoram were affected on Thursday.

Meanwhile, defence sources on Friday said that Army and Assam Rifles troops swiftly responded to provide humanitarian assistance to the stranded passengers of the railways.

They have provided food and drinking water to the stranded passengers and helped the railway authority in the restoration of the train services.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Tripura counterpart Manik Saha, who are away from their states to attend the NDA Chief Ministers' conclave in Chandigarh, expressed their happiness as no fatalities occurred in the train mishap.

Many express and local trains connecting Manipur, southern Assam, Tripura and Mizoram pass through the single track of the Lumding-Badarpur Hill section located in the mountainous Dima Hasao district.

People of southern Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur bear the brunt of floods during monsoon every year while the railway tracks, stations and other infrastructure get damaged due to flooding and landslides during the four-month-long monsoon from June to September.