7 coaches of Katihar-Amritsar Amrapali Express derail; no casualty reported

PATNA/KHAGARIA: Seven coaches of Katihar-Amritsar Amrapali Express derailed in Bihar's Khagaria district early today.

There was no report of any casualty in the derailment that occurred at a place under Sonepur division of ECR.

Seven coaches of 15707 UP Katihar-Amritsar Express including one AC-2, one AC-3 and five sleeper coaches jumped the track in between Patraha and Gouchari at around 1:14 AM, Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway, Arvind Kumar Rajak, told PTI in Patna.

Rajak said the cause of derailment is under probe.

The effected coaches after the engine are A-1 of AC2, B-1 of AC3, and sleepers coaches S5, S6, S7,S8 and S9.

Routes of nearly half-a-dozen trains including New Delhi-Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express, New Jalpaiguri-Danapur Capital Express and Anand Vihar-Jogvani Seemanchal have been diverted via Bhagalpur due to the derailment.
Sonepur Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) B K Aggarwal told PTI from the spot of the derailment that a 68 cm of track has been found broken which prima facie appears to be the cause of the incident.

He, however, ruled out involvement of Maoists in the derailment saying the breaking of the track could be because of a mechanical defect.

Khagaria Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Singh also denied Maoists' hand in it and said it appeared that the derailment was caused due to mechanical fault in the track.

The SP told PTI at Khagaria that he has directed policemen to assist the Railway in relief operation at the site.

The Sonepur DRM said the coaches have jumped off the track but did not topple which averted any human casualty.

He said three coaches including one 3A coach have been brought back to the track and hoped the rest of the derailed coaches would be restored by noon.

Excluding the derailed coaches, rest of the coaches of the train were brought to Barauni for onward journey.

A few coaches of the Amrapali Express had derailed in the same section in 2009 and one person had lost his life.