NEW DELHI: Railways today ordered an inquiry into the derailment of the Jabalpur-Nizamuddin Mahakaushal Express early today near Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh.
The inquiry will be conducted by a senior railway official and its report is expected to be submitted in 10 days, Railway Board member (Traffic) Mohd Jamshed told PTI. Asked whether it was an act of sabotage or any defect in the rolling stock led to the mishap, he said: "Nothing can be ruled out till the report is submitted."
Terming the incident as "unfortunate", he said accidents should not happen at all as railways has adopted a zero-tolerance approach towards any kind of mishap on the track involving passengers. A part of the railway track measuring 400 metres was damaged due to the derailment of eight coaches of the Delhi- bound train.
The derailed coaches are HA1, A1, B1, B2, S1, GS2 and the guard coach. Of the injured passengers, one suffered serious injuries and was rushed to Jhansi hospital, while others were given first aid, he said. All coaches are conventional ones and were manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai. Though a few coaches tumbled, they did not climb over each other as it happens in such cases, resulting in minimum damage.
Continuing with the journey, the front portion of the train with 10 coaches left the accident site at 6.48 AM. Before the derailment at 2.27 AM, another train had passed over the same track about an hour ago, Jamshed said. Railways has pressed 15 buses into service for carrying about 200 passengers, who were travelling in affected coaches, to Jhansi to resume their forward journey.
At least 17 helplines have been made operational at different stations en route to assist relatives of passengers travelling in the train. Besides, railways has made catering arrangement for the passengers on the site.
The derailment has affected services of 14 trains, out of which seven were diverted and an equal number of trains cancelled.
Jamshed said the line is expected to be restored by midnight as the damaged section of the track has to be replaced.