In the second such mishap to hit the Delhi Metro in a month, a train derailed near the Yamuna Bridge in East Delhi apparently due to problems on track, causing tense moments for 14 passengers on board and prompting the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to order a probe and suspend a junior engineer.
Two wheels of the train’s front coach jumped tracks at 6:02 am, just seconds after it started from the Yamuna Bank station, DMRC Spokesman Anuj Dayal said.
None of the passengers were injured.
Prima facie, according to Mr. Dayal, the derailment seems to have occurred due to problems related to the railway track and the Junior Engineer in charge of track maintenance has been suspended.
The accident comes exactly a month after a Metro train with 34 passengers on board derailed at the Dwarka station. No one was injured in that mishap, which was the first since Metro operations began in the capital in 2002.
“Since it was the first train starting from Yamuna Bank station, there were only 13 passengers. The accident took place as the train approached towards the Yamuna Bridge, just half a kilometre from Yamuna Bank station,” the spokesman said about today’s accident.
Services on the Yamuna Bank-Indraprastha sector were hit due to the incident, but Metro trains were plying normally from Indraprastha to Dwarka sector 9. The DMRC spokesman said recovery operations are on at the accident site and senior DMRC officials are there to oversee the operation.
Metro services remained normal on Line 1 (Rithala—Dilshad Garden) and Line 2 (Central Secretariat—Jahangir Puri).
An inquiry committee consisting of three officers in the rank of General Manager-GM (Maintenance), GM (Rolling Stock) and GM (Signaling and Telecom) from the Operation and Maintenance Department of the DMRC have been set up to probe the incident.
A few days ago, a 108-metre signalling cable was stolen from between Yamuna Banks and Indraprastha stations leading to disruption of services on the line.
Today’s mishap is the third major accident involving Delhi Metro in two months.
On July 12, six persons were killed when an under-construction bridge on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line collapsed near Zamrudpur in South Delhi.
