Truck rams into Shatabdi Express
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 9 — A minor accident involving the Delhi-Chandigarh Shatabdi near Saharanpur this morning delayed passengers-travelling from Delhi. Though no one was injured in the accident the normally three hour journey between Delhi and Chandigarh on the Shatabdi Express took an unprecedented 14 hours today. A fully loaded truck had rammed into the train at a level crossing.

The same was true for passengers of the Himalayan Queen travelling from Delhi to Chandigarh. The train usually completes its run in four hours and 30 minutes. Today the journey lasted around 15 hours. The train starts from New Delhi in the morning and it arrived at Chandigarh around 9 p.m.

Several passengers preferred to catch taxis or buses to reach Chandigarh. Children faced the problem of drinking water. Same was true for water in the toilets. Women travelling alone and old persons were put to the maximum discomfort.

Both the trains that started from New Delhi in the morning were approaching Chandigarh via Shamli-Saharanpur as their scheduled route between Delhi and Ambala has been closed down temporarily following track damage. The Himachal Express between Delhi and Una was also delayed by several hours.

Meanwhile, efforts by engineers of the Railways to repair the track may not lead to running of trains immediately. Sources have said that it will take a week more. As an experiment six express trains have been running at a controlled speed of 30 km per hour on the damaged section. Engineers of the railways have been conducting "ultra sound fault detection" on the track that had developed cracks.

Since then many trains have been cancelled while all other trains have been diverted away from the damaged section leading to delays.

Faulty track behind rail mishap?
By Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Dec 9 — Cracks in the rail track may have been one of the major reasons for the gruesome rail tragedy in which more than 200 persons lost their lives near Khanna 13 days ago.

A similar problem of "cracks" has now been noticed on the Delhi- Ambala rail section where nearly hundred cracks have been identified leading to the cancellation of several trains and diversion of several others Repair work has been going on for seven days now.

Highly placed sources confirmed that "cracks" like those on the Delhi- Ambala section were also found on the tracks near Khanna where the crash occurred early on November 27. There is every possibility that the cracks could have led to the derailment of the last few bogies of Frontier Mail, the sources said.

The last few bogies of Frontier Mail had derailed and fallen on an adjoining track. Sealdah Express, coming from the opposite direction at a speed of over 90 km per hour, rammed into these bogies. The hook joint between the 11th and 12th bogies of Frontier Mail had broken following a loosened coupling. The bogies after the 12th bogie trailed behind for a while due to the speed and then tipped over.

A preliminary enquiry conducted by Dr M.Mani, Chief Commissioner, Railway Safety, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has also pointed out the "cracks" in the tracks, the sources said. When contacted at his Lucknow residence tonight Mr Mani refused comment saying that" it will be inappropriate to say anything at this juncture as the enquiry was confidential and a judicial probe has been ordered". He, however, informed that he had submitted copies of the enquiry report to the Union Civil Aviation and Railway Ministries. The Union Minister for Railways, Mr Nitish Kumar, has also ordered a judicial probe into the accident. A senior official who did not wish to be quoted, said all officials in the ministry were aware of the "cracks" that are referred to as "fractures " in railway terminology.

The judicial probe may lead to many skeletons falling out of the cupboards. A source said that the sheer number of trains passing on the tracks was much more than the prescribed limit. Maintenance was suffering on this account.

The Railways has suspended an erring driver for allegedly driving an engine that had damaged wheels. The wheels had led to cracks, officials have gone on record while pointing out the cause.