Doon Express engine delinks; 13 sacked for Utkal accident
Mishap near Jaunpur in UP
Jaunpur (UP), Aug 30: The engine of the Doon Express was delinked from the coaches between Khetasarai and Jaunpur stations on the Varanasi-Faizabad section of the northern railways on Wednesday. While it was not a major mishap and didn’t result in any casualties, it sparked off panic among the passengers as it follows two major derailments in the last two weeks. The Dehradunbound train from Howrah (Kolkata) proceeded after an hour with the help of another engine.
In another development, 13 railway employees were sacked for “negligence” in the August 19 Utkal Express derailment. Among those fired are 11 gangmen, one ironsmith and a junior engineer, the railway ministry said. All of them were workers in the Kathauli section, where the accident
took place when 14 coaches of the train jumped the rails.
The Dehradunbound train proceeded after an hour with the help of another engine
Jaunpur (UP), Aug. 30: The engine of the popular Doon Express train on Wednesday got delinked from the coaches between Khetasarai and Jaunpur stations on the Varanasi Faizabad section of the Northern Railways but fortunately it did not lead to any untoward happening.
The incident took place at about 1 pm when the engine got separated from the Howrah-Dehradun Express train near gate number 56 after the coupling suddenly broke, rail officials said here.
The Dehradun-bound train from Howrah (Kolkata) proceeded after an hour with the help of another engine.
The Doon Express, one of the two trains that connect Howrah and Dehradun, had derailed close to Zafarganj station near Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh in 2014, killing three and injuring six persons.
The freak incident on Wednesday afternoon, however, triggered panic among the passengers as two train accidents have occurred in UP in recent days.
Fourteen coaches of the high-speed Utkal Express jumped the tracks on
August 19 near Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar district, killing over 20 people and injuring 60.
In another accident, around 100 passengers were wounded when 10 coaches of the Kaifiyat Express derailed on August 23 in Auraiya district after crashing into a dumper on the tracks.
Meanwhile, a committee, set up by railway minister Suresh Prabhu, today recommended that divisional railway managers (DRMs) be given more power to take decisions, particularly in emergencies.
The committee came out with the report after taking a stock of the series of derailments this month. ‘Making Divisions as Strategic Business Units’, the committee, was constituted in June to finalise a process by which more financial and executive powers are delegated to DRMs so they are able to handle day-to-day operations more effectively, as per PTI.