Six wagons of a goods train derailed at the Tiruchi Fort Railway Station on Thursday morning, causing disruption to regular train services in the Tiruchi-Karur-Erode section for a major part of the day.
The goods train transporting cement bags from Kallakudi Palanganatham to Ollur near Thrissur was crossing the Tiruchi Fort station, when six wagons derailed.
Top railway officials rushed with the break down special from Tiruchi Junction and took up track restoration work immediately.
Manjula Rangarajan, Divisional Railway Manager; A. S. Abdul Rahman, Additional Divisional Railway Manager; and Venkateswaran, Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, monitored the work.
Trains running in the Tiruchi – Erode section, including the Coimbatore – Mayiladuthurai Jan Shatabdi Express, Bangalore – Tiruchi Special, was defined at different stations. The track was cleared at 3.30 p.m. and the train services were later restored.
The railways announced the partial cancellation of the Jan Shatabdi Expresses between Tiruchi and Mayiladuthurai.
The train arrived at Tiruchi Junction in the evening, more than five hours behind schedule, later left for Coimbatore from here. The railways made special arrangements for transporting the passengers bound for Mayiladuthurai by special buses from Tiruchi Junction.
Angry passengers besieged the Karur Station Master here on Thursday when they could not get proper information on the movement of trains in the Karur-Tiruchi section.
The incoming Coimbatore-Myladuthurai Jan Shatabdi was forced to halt for close to three hours at Karur Junction.
Passengers, on their holiday urgency, were desperate to get back home and grew restive when proper information did not flow through on the time of departure from Karur Junction. Railway officials here kept telling them that once the derailment was cleared the train would be allowed to proceed.
But irate passengers besieged the Karur Station Master Sundararajan.
