Gorakhpur-bound train derails at Kanpur Central, four coaches go off tracks; no casualties

Four coaches of the Chauri Chaura Express derailed while the train was departing from Kanpur Central railway station in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday evening. No passengers were injured in the incident, railway officials said.

Train number 15003, travelling from Kanpur Anwarganj to Gorakhpur, arrived at Platform 7 and departed at 5.03 pm. Around two minutes later, as the train was moving out of the station, coaches B4, B5, B6 and B7 derailed. One trolley of each coach went off the tracks.

Deputy chief traffic manager (CTM), Kanpur Central, Akshanshu Govil said around 300 passengers were travelling in the four affected coaches and all were safe. Railway officials and an engineering team rushed to the spot, following which restoration work was initiated. Efforts were also underway to attach the unaffected coaches and resume the train's journey at the earliest.

Senior railway officials from Prayagraj were dispatched to the site. The relief and restoration operations were being coordinated by the deputy CTM, Kanpur.

Train derails in Assam

The derailment comes hours after another train accident in Assam, where six passenger coaches and the locomotive of the Kolkata-Sairang Express derailed at Digaru railway station on the outskirts of Guwahati early Wednesday morning.

ALSO READ | Six coaches of Kolkata-Sairang Express derail at Digaru railway station in Assam; rescue ops on

While the Northeast Frontier Railway initially said there were no reports of casualties, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma later said four people had sustained minor injuries and were receiving medical care.

The incident occurred around 6:54 am when the train, travelling from Kolkata to Sairang in Mizoram, was entering Digaru station to give precedence to another train. According to the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), the locomotive pilot could not control the train's speed, resulting in the derailment of the locomotive and five passenger coaches.

The NFR launched relief and rescue operations immediately after the accident. A special train was arranged to transport stranded passengers to their destinations, with food and drinking water also provided. A recovery train was sent to the site to assist with restoration work.

The derailment also disrupted the movement of other trains. The Guwahati-Jorhat Town Jan Shatabdi Express and the Coimbatore-Silchar Express were regulated at Panbari and Panikhaiti, respectively. The Alipurduar-Mariani Intercity Express was short-terminated at Kamakhya, while the Guwahati-Haibargaon DMU was cancelled. Railway officials later said normal train operations on the affected section had been restored.