Passenger train derails in Assam, motorman seriously injured

The accident occurred between Salakati and Basugaon as the 55753 UP Sifung passenger train was about to negotiate a bridge, a railway spokesman said.

A passenger train hangs from a bridge after it derailed at Basugaon in Chirang district of Assam in the early hours on Saturday. (Source: PTI)

Written by Samudra Gupta Kashyap | Guwahati | Updated: May 23, 2015 12:35 pm

Hundreds of passengers of the 55753 Alipurduar-Guwahati Sifung Express had a providential escape early Saturday morning when the train hit a tree that had fallen on the tracks just before a railway bridge on the Guwahati-Alipurduar main line, with only the engine and five coaches getting derailed in the process.
The accident occurred at 5:15am after the Sifung Express had left Salakati station and was heading towards Basugaon in Kokrajhar district. Four persons including the driver and assistant driver received minor injuries. There would have been heavy casualties had the train or some of its coaches fallen off the bridge into the Champamati river.

While the Northeast Frontier Railway authorities have instituted an inquiry to ascertain the exact reason behind the derailment, local reports said that the train hit a simul tree that had fallen on the track after it was uprooted in a storm in the wee hours of Saturday.
While movement on the Up track has remained suspended with engineers getting to work to remove the blockade, repair the tracks and the bridge. Traffic between Guwahati and Alipurduar is now taking place only through the Down track.
“Because of the Up track remaining blocked due to the accident, normal movement of trains has been affected. Most of the trains will be running behind schedule due to the congestion,” NF Railways CPRO PJ Sharma said.