Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Itwari Railway Station (NITR) bound Balaghat MEMU derailed near Kalamna Railway Station on Sunday night. As per preliminary reports, the two wheels of one of the bogies moved off the rail. As the speed of train was slow, the damage was not big, nor was any passengers injured. After the derailment, the passengers got down from the train and moved to nearby Kalamna station.

 

The incident is reported to have occurred around 9.10 pm as the train no. 68715 BTC-NITR was nearing the Kalamna Railway Station. Earlier, the train left Kamptee station and was to terminate at Itwari station after a brief halt at Kalamna station. Due to derailment, the passengers in the bogie got jolted as first bogie after the engine jumped the tracks. The derailment occurred in South East Central Railway (SECR), Nagpur Division. As the train crew reported the mishap to station master and later to control room, a full scale rescue operation as per procedure was launched by SECR team. As per reports, Accident Relief Medical Equipment (ARME) moved into action from Itwari railway station at 9.43 pm. Upon reaching the spot, following the procedure the ARME staff inspected the damage to the bogie, the tracks before launching rerailing operation.

 

Till the operation was on, movement of trains on Kamptee-Kalamna section was suspended for nearly and hour leaving travellers in long distance passenger carrying suffered severe inconvenience. The derailment section is part of high density network Howrah-Mumbai railway route. Already the summer rush is seeing running of additional special, plus the regular trains on the circuit means any disruption has adverse effect on the movement of trains. 

 

Following the derailment, the SECR decided to regulate some trains till the track is repaired. Two MEMU, 68716 (NITR-G MEMU) Ex-NITR and 68712 (G-DGG MEMU) Ex-Gondia were cancelled. Similarly, 68710 (DGG-R MEMU) of April 30 run Ex-DGG is also cancelled. The multiple lines post NI work at Kalamna station helped smoothen operations and none of the following trains were affected post the derailment.