BHUBANESWAR: Train services on the Cuttack-Paradip branch were affected after a goods train carrying imported coal from Paradip port to Bandhadihi in Adra Division of the South Eastern Railway (SER) derailed between Goraknath and Raghunathpur in Jagatsinghpur district on Friday.
Sources said that while 14 loaded wagons of the goods train derailed on the down line, 12 tilted off the rails. Though no casualties were reported, East Coast Railway (ECoR) has cancelled the Paradip-Cuttack-Paradip Passenger train and the Paradip-Puri Express. The Puri-Patradip Express has been terminated at Cuttack.
Relief trains from Bhadrak, Khurda Road and Sambalpur were sent to the accident site. Restoration work is expected to be over by Saturday.
Meanwhile, ECoR general manager Umesh Singh has ordered an inquiry into the incident. The inquiry will be led by chief safety officer and consist of four officers including Deputy Chief Safety Officers of Electrical, Mechanical, Signal and Traffic.
Khurda Road DRM Braj Mohan Agarwal has reached the site and inspected the damages to the wagons and the track. After detailed site inspection, he said 12 of the 14 wagons will be thrown off the track with the help of cranes while two wagons will be re-railed on the track.
Earlier in the day, Vasco De Gama Patna Express derailed was also derailed in Uttar Pradesh's Chitrakoot district claiming lives of three people and left seven injured.