Shatabdi Derailment -News

Shatabdi derailment at railway station triggers chaos

TNN | Jan 27, 2013, 05.35 AM IST

BANGALORE: Chaos prevailed at the City railway station early on Saturday morning after the electric locomotive and two coaches of the Chennai-bound Shatabdi express (Train number 12028) derailed at 5.20am en route to platform No.5 from the dockyard. The train that was to depart at 6am did not have any passengers in it. 

The derailment forced railway authorities to cancel the Shatabdi. With the track blocked, around 15 trains were affected as they either departed late or arrived late against schedule time creating chaos at the station on a holiday morning. The travel plans of not only the Chennai-bound passengers were upset. 

Manorama R, resident of Malleswaram and native of Chennai, expressed dismay over the incident saying it had ruined her plans. "I was all set to take my two children to my mother's house in Chennai. We had planned a one-day trip to Mahabalipuram by leaving Chennai early on Sunday. Now it seems that we have to cancel the trip as I am travelling in Ernakulam Express," she said. Manorama had even booked return tickets to Bangalore on Sunday night. 

The Ernakulam Express which left four hours later carried many stranded passengers from Shatabdi a good three hours behind schedule at 10.15am. Arun B, chief accountant with a private company, decided to get a refund and return to his Banaswadi home. "I visit my parents in Chennai once a month. This time I have a three-day holiday and was hoping to spend some quality time with them. Though railway officials say I can travel either in Lalbagh Express or Ernakulam Express, I decided against it as both trains will travel slow as they stop at each station. So I cancelled my journey," he said.