New Delhi: Over 50 hours into the tragic railway accident in Odisha’s Balasore that killed over 270 people, a trial run was conducted on the affected railway tracks. Several trains are set to resume operations in the affected stretch. “Both tracks have been restored. Within 51 hours, the train movement was normalised. Train movement will begin from now,” Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday night.
Vaishnaw said, “We will soon move towards normalisation of services. Our responsibility is not over till the family members of all the passengers get in touch or get information about them.”
The first train on the section where the accident happened in Balasore started its journey at around 10.40 pm on Sunday, officials said. The goods train was seen off by Vaishnaw as scores of mediapersons and railway officials looked on. The train carrying coal was headed towards Rourkela Steel plant from Vizag port and ran on the same track where the ill-fated Bangalore-Howrah train met with the tragedy on Friday (June 2).
The Howrah-bound train crashed with the capsized bogies of the Coromandel Express which had collided with a stationary freight train seconds earlier.
“Down-line restoration complete. First train movement in section,” tweeted Ashwini Vaishnaw. Barely two hours after the restoration of the downline, the upline was also restored.
Up-line train movement also started. pic.twitter.com/JQnd7yUuEB
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) June 4, 2023
Down-line restoration complete. First train movement in section. pic.twitter.com/cXy3jUOJQ2
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) June 4, 2023
An empty goods train was the first train to run on the up line of the accident affected section. This is the same track on which the Coromandel Express was running before it entered into the loop line to crash into a stationary goods train.
“Three trains have left from the section (two down and one up) and we have planned to run around seven tonight. We have to take this entire section towards normalisation,” Vaishnaw said.
Odisha Train Accident: Over 200 Bodies Remain Unidentified
Railway Minister Vaishnaw said the main objective is to ensure that all the missing persons’ family members find information about them. Around 200 bodies so far remain unidentified, according to a report by news agency PTI. “Our objective is to ensure that all the missing persons’ family members find them as soon as possible. Our responsibility is not over yet,” said a visibly emotional Vaishnaw as he announced the restoration of the accident-affected section.
The Odisha government has set up a 24X7 toll-free helpline numbers – 18003450061/ 1929 to help people looking for relatives or family members.
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