New Delhi, 21 July (H.S.):

The operations of Northern Railway on the Ghaziabad-New Delhi rail route have still not returned to normal after six loaded wagons of a goods train derailed, causing major disruption to train services.

Following the accident, 19 trains have been cancelled so far, including eight trains operating in the down direction and 11 in the up direction. More than 90 trains have been affected due to the disruption. Several trains have been diverted, partially cancelled, partially originated or terminated, while some services are being operated under controlled conditions. Railway engineering, operations, signalling and safety teams are working on a war footing to restore normal services.

According to Northern Railway, the accident has significantly affected several major services, including Rajdhani Express, Duronto Express, Sampark Kranti Express, Amrit Bharat Express, Garib Rath Express, Vande Bharat Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Mail/Express trains, and suburban EMU and MEMU services. The Delhi-Ghaziabad suburban section has been the worst affected, causing considerable inconvenience to daily commuters.

The trains cancelled so far include Ghaziabad-Delhi EMU (64437), Ghaziabad-Delhi MEMU (64417), Ghaziabad-New Delhi EMU (64423), Ghaziabad-Delhi EMU (64401), Ghaziabad-New Delhi Ladies EMU (64449), Ghaziabad-Shahdara EMU (64031), Delhi-Panipat MEMU (64531), Panipat-Delhi MEMU (64536), Ghaziabad-New Delhi EMU (64425), among others. The Intercity Express (15303) has also been cancelled. Railway sources said that the total number of cancelled trains has risen to 19.

Railways stated that several trains were diverted due to the accident. These include Golden Temple Mail (12904), Chhattisgarh Express (18238), Mahabodhi Express (12397), Nanda Devi Express (12402), Shramjeevi Express (12391), Bihar Sampark Kranti (12565), Vaishali Express (15565), Shram Shakti Express (12451), Lucknow Mail (12229), Prayagraj Express (12417), Shiv Ganga Superfast (12559), Poorva Express (12303), Howrah-New Delhi Duronto Express (12273), and other trains. These services were operated through the Sahibabad-Delhi Shahdara-Delhi-New Delhi route.

Several trains, including Tejas Rajdhani Express (12309), Sampoorna Kranti Express (12393), Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express (12301), Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express (12313), Rajdhani Express (12423), Ranchi-New Delhi Garib Rath Express (12877), Godda-New Delhi Humsafar Express (12349), and Rajendra Nagar-New Delhi Amrit Bharat Express (22361), were diverted through the Tundla-Agra Cantt-Palwal route.

Railways also had to regulate the movement of several trains. These included Purushottam Express (12801), Lichchavi Express (14005), Satyagraha Express (14015), Vikramshila Express (12367), Sapt Kranti Express (12557), Suheldev Express (22419), Humsafar Express (22437), Rewa-Anand Vihar Express (12427), among others. These trains were either stopped at various stations or operated with delays.

During restoration work, some trains were partially terminated or partially started. The Aligarh-New Delhi EMU (64105) was initially restricted up to Ghaziabad and later operated up to New Delhi through the Shahibabad-Delhi Shahdara route. The Delhi-Tundla MEMU (64584) was started from Ghaziabad, while the Tundla-Delhi MEMU (64583) was terminated at Ghaziabad and its connecting service was operated from the same station. The Ghaziabad-Palwal EMU (64052) was started from New Delhi, while its link service was terminated at New Delhi.

According to railway officials, the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Additional Divisional Railway Manager and other senior officials reached the site soon after receiving information about the accident. Cranes, engineering equipment and technical teams are continuously working to remove the derailed wagons and restore the affected tracks.

The signalling system and overhead equipment (OHE) are also being inspected to ensure that train operations are resumed in a completely safe manner.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar