Train services resumed on the busy Howrah-Chennai main line, 51 hours after one of the deadliest accidents at the Bahanaga station in Odisha’s Balasore district on June 2.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was under attack from the Opposition parties for 275 deaths in the accident, stayed put in Balasore district, ensuring that men and machinery were mobilised at the site.
After relentless physical work by over 1,500 labourers, backed by heavy machinery, the restoration could be completed within 51 hours. The accident had pulverised both up and down Howrah-Chennai lines near the Bahanaga station while the overhead electrification was non-existent. Cranes were used to remove damaged coaches from the track. Though political leaders and top officials kept visiting the spot, there was no pause in restoration work. In fact, a few hundred metres of the track was laid afresh.
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Track linking of the up-line was completed at 4.45 p.m. on Sunday while the down-line was made fit a couple of hours prior to that. Simultaneously, the restoration of overhead electrification was taken up. Train movement started soon after midnight. On an experimental basis, a few goods trains were passed through the overhauled tracks. The speed of passenger trains was reduced during the stretch where the accident had taken place.
Mr. Vaishnaw, who was present to witness the resumption of train services on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, heaved a sigh of relief. According to a senior railway official, more than 60 goods and passenger trains have passed through the crash site.
Despite the completion of the restoration, the East Coast Railway said as many as 17 passenger trains stood cancelled on Monday.
Decomposed bodies
Meanwhile, the Odisha and Central Governments continued to struggle in the identification of bodies which were fast decomposing.
“Till yesterday [Sunday], the death toll was 275. The most challenging aspect is identification. However, 170 bodies have been identified. The process of handing over the bodies is going on. The Odisha Government will arrange transportation of the bodies to their respective destinations free of cost,” said Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena.
An infographic depicting how the Odisha train crash may have happened based on the preliminary probe by Indian Railway Ministry.
The State Government urged people whose loved ones had travelled in the two ill-fated trains to contact over toll-free numbers. The State cannot keep the bodies for long as they had already started decomposing. In case, the bodies are not identified, the government would follow the medical guidelines to dispose them of.
AIIMS-Bhubaneswar Executive Director Ashutosh Biswas said it was a herculean task to maintain such a high number of the bodies which had already started to putrefy. Deep-freeze containers had been mobilised for their preservation.
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