16 wagons of fertilizer-laden train jump off track near Nirgundi station

Cuttack: A fertilizer-laden train enroute Haibargaon in Assam from Gangavaram port in Visakhapatnam derailed near Nirgundi station in Cuttack district in the early hours of Wednesday.

Rail traffic was affected on the route as 16 coaches of the goods train from the engine jumped off the track.

According to reports, five passenger trains including Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak, Bhubaneswar-Berhampur and Berhampur-Bhubaneswar were cancelled due to the derailment. Tapaswini Express and Secunderabad-Howrah Special were diverted via Naraj and Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express on Barang and Kapilas routes. Similarly, Berhampur-Cuttack Passenger and Kharagpur-Khurda Road Passenger were short terminated at Mancheswar and Jajpur Keonjhar Road respectively.

The railway authorities have also arranged for bus services to and from Cuttack for the passengers. The first bus left Cuttack at 9.25 am.

The restoration process started immediately and 26 wagons of the train and guard van which were unaffected and safe were pulled back to Cuttack station. This helped the cranes and other re-railing equipment to reach the site of the affected wagons.

While investigation to ascertain the exact reason of the mishap is on, railway officials attributed it to a possible technical glitch.

On September 3, three wagons of a goods train had derailed near Sikharpur level crossing in Cuttack. The train carrying cement was on its way to Cuttack from Jharsuguda.