8th Oct, 2014

0830 Hrs

PRESS RELEASE – No. 7

Restoration work on Konkan Railway

Konkan Railway is carrying out restoration work at the affected site on a war footing since yesterday. The railway track of about 160 metres length is severely damaged as a result of the derailment of the loaded Goods train. While clearing the railway track of the derailed wagons (12 in number), first all the wagons had to be unloaded and also ensure safe and secure stacking of the wheat bags. There were about 15,000 bags of wheat in the derailed wagons weighing about 750 tonnes. Since the track was damaged and uprooted, we had to lay the railway track first and then take the Crane ahead to remove the first derailed wagon and then repeat the procedure.

There is no direct road access to the site for easy transportation of the restoration material and hence we had to carry the same to the nearest location and then move it manually through labourers.

The derailment had occurred in between two bridges and 2 of the derailed wagons were on the bridge. This needs to be tackled very cautiously to avoid any damage to the structure of the bridge. The steep and high embankment on either side also made it difficult to tackle the derailed wagons.

Heavy rain in the region had also hampered the restoration work for some time.

One ART with 140-Tonne Breakdown Crane and ARMV belonging to Konkan Railway was deployed for quick restoration work. One more ART of Central Railway was also called.

Two Excavators and more than 300 labourers are deployed at the site. Senior level officials of Konkan Railway are also present at the site round the clock for effecting an early restoration. The work is being monitored continuously from the Central Control Room at Belapur through remote cameras.

Trains are likely to run late today. Passengers are requested to check the train status before boarding the train on www.konkanrailway.com or call on Enquiry no. 022-27587939.

Inconvenience caused to the passengers is deeply regretted.