At least seven coaches of Howrah-Jabalpur -Shaktipunj Express train derailed on Thursday morning in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh. No casualities have been reported so far and all stranded passengers have been shifted to non-derailed coaches of the train.
"The accident occurred at around 6:25 AM and we have already cleared out the site," Railway ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena said.
"All passengers were put on the remaining coaches and by 7:28 AM all of them had left the spot. All of them are safe and no one was injured in the accident," he said.
The train was running at a speed of about 40 km/hr which, officials say prevented any injuries when the incident occurred.
Incident happened at 6:25 am near Obra in Sonbhadra; all passengers safe, no injury. Railway min Piyush Goyal briefed: Indian Railways PRO pic.twitter.com/bH9GSQU4rK
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 7, 2017
We have increased allocations for safety related work & addressing problem of renewal & maintenance of tracks: IR PRO on train derailments pic.twitter.com/F03mwwg1Sd
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 7, 2017
This is the third such derailment in the state in less than a month.
On September 3, four loaded wagons of a goods train derailed near Hardattpur railway station on Saturday. As a result, the Allahabad-Manduadih route also got affected. However, no casualties have been reported due to the derailment till now.
Train derailment is not a new problem in Uttar Pradesh. Ten coaches of Kaifiyat Express derailed near UP's Auraiya district on August 23, resulting in injuries to at least 74 people.Â
As a result, all passenger trains scheduled to run on Kanpur-Tundla section were cancelled and 7 trains diverted due to Kaifiyat express train derailment.
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) September 7, 2017
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 7, 2017
— News Nation (@NewsNationTV) September 7, 2017