Rajdhani derails near Kolkata. Sabotage?

Passengers of the Howrah-bound Rajdhani Express escaped unhurt on Monday when the engine derailed at a station in Hooghly district with the Railways claiming it could be sabotage and state DGP (Railways) saying it was not.

The New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express was at a slow speed while it was passing through a platform of the Baruipara station, around 27 km from Kolkata, when two front wheels of the engine jumped the tracks, Eastern Railway CPRO Samir Goswami told PTI.

None of the coaches were affected by the derailment, which occurred at around 9:15 am, he said. "Since none of the coaches were affected there was no casualty or injury."

"Prima facie, 300 pandrole clips on the tracks were found removed. Therefore we are not ruling out sabotage. However, it has to be investigated," Goswami said.

Meanwhile, Director-General of Police (Railways) Dilip Mitra told PTI that "sabotage is ruled out and it was an accident".

Quoting reports from the SRP, Howrah, after visiting the spot, Mitra said the pandrole clips were not removed and it was caused by the sudden application of the emergency brake by the driver.

"Displacement of the pandrole clips occurred subsequent to the application of emergency brake by the driver after he heard an abnormal sound and there was a jerk in the engine," Mitra said.

He also claimed that the train was running at a high speed and there was no cautionary signal as the train was passing through Baruipara station.

The Chief Operations Manager, ER, Ambarish Mukherjee who was on the train, took charge of the situation immediately after the derailment, the CPRO said.

A EMU rake was sent from Howrah to bring the stranded passengers of the Rajdhani to the terminus, Goswami said.