Three passengers were injured as 10 coaches of the Jammu Tawi-Pune Jhelum Express derailed near the Satluj river in Jalandhar district early on Tuesday, affecting the movement of over 100 trains.
The Pune-bound train derailed at 3:10 A.M. between Phillaur and Ladhowal stations of the Jalandhar-Ludhiana section of the Ferozepur division of the Northern Railway.
“Ten coaches of Jhelum Express derailed between Phillaur and Ladhowal,” Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ferozepur, Anuj Prakash said.
A major tragedy was averted as the train was running slow just after moving out of the Phillaur railway station.
“We were very lucky that the train did not reach the rail bridge (over Satluj river). It could have been worse,” a railway official said.
Ten coaches that derailed included a pantry car, a three-Tier AC compartment and eight Sleeper Class bogies, the official said.
Three passengers were injured and rushed to a nearby hospital in Ludhiana.
About 25 trains including Shatabdi Express, Shan-e-Punjab Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Amritsar-Chandigarh Intercity Express on the busy Amritsar-Delhi route were cancelled.
Railways was making efforts to restore services.
Thirty-eight trains were diverted and more than 40 were either short-terminated, short-originated or rescheduled, railway officials said.
The rail traffic on the Ludhiana-Jalandhar section of the Delhi-Jalandhar route, which also connects Amritsar and Jammu, was disrupted.
Railway officials said an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the mishap, but they ruled out any possibility of sabotage.
They said the front portion of the Jhelum Express, which is the engine and eight coaches, have been moved to the next station after accommodating all the passengers for arranging their onward journey.
The rear six unaffected coaches have been moved to Phillaur, they said, adding that buses were being arranged for passengers willing to continue their journey by bus.
The Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur, General Manager Northern Railway A .K. Puthia and a team of senior officials inspected the site of the mishap.
Helpline numbers have been set up by railways in Jammu, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Delhi, Amritsar and Pathankot. PTI
