Bengal rail accident: Routes of nine long-distance trains diverted

Kolkata: The Railways Department on Monday announced the diversion of nine trains following the Kanchanjunga Express-goods train collision in West Bengal.

The trains were scheduled to cross the spot where two compartments of the Kanchanjunga Express were hit by a goods train between the New Jalpaiguri and Rangapani stations.

The nine trains whose routes have been diverted include the 19602 New Jalpaiguri-Udaipur City Express, 01666 Agartala Rani Kamlapati (Habibganj) Special, 12423 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, 20503 Dibrugarh-New Delhi Rajdhani Express, 12377 Sealdah-New Alipurduar Padatik Express, 22301 Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express, 06105 Nagercoil-Dibrugarh Special, 20506 New Delhi- Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express and 12424 New Delhi- Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express.

According to railway officials, these trains have been diverted to the Bagdogra-Siliguri-New Jalpaiguri line via Aluabari junction.

The rescue and disaster management teams have already been able to dissect the affected compartments from the main train, following which the train with the unaffected compartment attached to it has started towards its destination of Sealdah.

Meanwhile, operations are on to clear the adjacent railway track where a portion of the derailed compartments got shifted. Giant JCB machines were brought to the spot to clear the adjacent railway tracks. Once the track is cleared, railway officials said, train services through that route would be normalised to a great extent.