Rail traffic restored in Khatauli: Railways

NEW DELHI: Rail traffic in Khatauli, suspended after a derailment, was restored today, with the first train leaving the spot at 1:21AM, the Northern Railways said.

The Meerut-Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur rail section was affected after 13 coaches of the Utkal Express derailed on Saturday evening, killing 22 people and injuring 156.

"The 54542 Ambala Meerut city passenger train passed Khatauli at 1:21AM today," the Railways said in a press release.

In a move described as "unprecedented", the Railways yesterday sent on leave three top officials, including a secretary-level Railway Board member, suspended four officers and transfered a track engineer.

Member (engineering) on the Railway Board, Northern Railway general manager and divisional regional manager (Delhi) were asked to go on leave.

The four officials suspended were a senior divisional engineer, an assistant engineer, a senior section engineer responsible for track maintenance and a junior engineer.

The Commissioner Safety is expected to reach Khatauli this afternoon and begin a probe into the accident.