The coaches numbering at least eight of the Agartala-Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express derailed at Dibalong station in Assam on Thursday. Incident takes place around 4 pm in the Lumding-Badarpur Hill section of the Lumding division, but there is no casualty or serious injury reported till now.
“Eight coaches, including the power car and the engine of the train, derailed. No casualty or major injury has so far been reported,” Northeast Frontier Railway zone Chief Public Relations Officer said according to PTI.
2520 Agartala – Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express that left Agartala today morning derailed at Dibalong station under Lumding division in the Lumding – Bardarpur Hill section at about 15-55 hrs. 8 coaches including the power car and the Engine of the train got derailed. However,… pic.twitter.com/MkSiVzSRYC
— ANI (@ANI) October 17, 2024
The senior division officials from Lumding reached the accident spot with an accident relief train and a medical train to oversee the rescue and restoration operations, railway officials said.
Train operations on the Lumding-Badarpur single line section have been affected due to the incident, and operation on the single line section has been suspended. Helpline numbers for assistance are available at Lumding: 03674 263120 and 03674 263126.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government is coordinating with the railway authorities on the incident.
This derailment occurred on the heels of another similar accident just last week when twelve coaches of a long-distance express train derailed following a collision with a stationary goods train at Kavarapettai in Tamil Nadu on 11th October. There were no causalities or life-threatening injuries reported in the accident.
The accident occurred at around 8:30 PM, when the train, running in from Karnataka’s Mysuru to Bihar’s Darbhanga, crossed Ponneri station. Railway officials said the train seemed to enter a loop line, where the freight service was parked.
There, it was like the 2023 Balasore disaster where the Coromandel Express went into the loop line and rammed into a goods train with such derailment that made Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast crash. It resulted in killing up to 296 people and became one of the deadliest incidents for trains in Indian history.