Two persons were injured and hospitalised after a collision between two freight trains near Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib district on Sunday morning.
The incident took place at DFCC track around 4am, when a freight train hit another from behind, following which the freight train’s engine derailed and brushed a passenger train on another track, leaving the engine and two bogies of passenger train derailed.
The accident hit rail traffic hard, as multiple trains had to be diverted through Rajpura, Patiala, and Dhuri stations to avoid the affected area.
Some trains had to be rerouted via Chandigarh to ensure they continued to operate with minimal delays. Authorities of Ambala division of Northern Railway also had to cancel, short originate and terminate several trains.
The loco pilots injured in the accident have been identified as Himanshu Kumar and Vikas Kumar. Both have been admitted to Fatehgarh Sahib civil hospital but have since been referred to Govt Rajendra Hospital in Patiala. However, no passenger was hurt.
Rattan Lal, SHO of Fatehgarh Sahib GRP, said due to the collision, the engine of one of the freight trains fell on the DelhiAmritsar rail track where a special summer train with passengers was crossing. “All on board had a narrow escape, but the train had to be stopped and efforts are being made since morning to clear the rail track,” he said.
Locals and volunteers from a nearby gurdwara reached the spot and started serving food and water to passengers. The volunteers also served langar to passengers at Mandi Gobindgarh where a train was halted for around 4 hours due to the mishap near Sirhind on Sunday.
“A major derailment incident occurred around 4am on the dedicated freight corridor track between Sadhoogarh and Sirhind railway stations. Two freight trains were involved in the accident, which led to the obstruction of an adjacent railway line. As a result, the timely operation of Kolkata – Amritsar Summer Special Express was severely affected,” said railway authorities.
They said to minimise the impact of disruption, swift action was taken by rerouting the affected train via Rajpura-DhuriLudhiana rail route. In order to facilitate this change, one SLR and one general coach had to be detached from the train.
Ambala senior divisional commercial manager Naveen Kumar said the work was being carried out to redevelop the damaged train to resume operations. Railways authorities also released helpline numbers for the passengers, which include Ludhiana (94178-83569), Jalandhar (81461-39614), Amritsar (74969-66206), Pathankot (94637-44690), and Jammu Tawi (0191-2470116).
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