The journey of a Chennai-bound special train ground to a disastrous halt even before the train left the station on Sunday. The train’s last bogie derailed and collided with the station post office before coming to a grinding halt.
Along the way, the wayward bogie also crashed through a parking lot for railway employees’ vehicles, wrecking the structure and damaging several two-wheelers. Visuals from the scene of the accident show that the shed covering the parking lot was turned into a mangled mess of metal. And more than one motorbike was dragged under the wheels of the train.
While the Chennai-bound special train was scheduled to leave the station at 7pm, the accident occurred at around 5pm. The derailed car also crashed into the Railway Staff two-wheeler parking lot, and damaged about seven bikes. No casualties were reported.
According to The Hindu, the train was a 17-bogie special train which derailed in the shunting yard.
According to Raja, a person present at the spot, the accident occurred while the engine was being linked. Due to over speeding, the train crossed the barriers and collided with the railway post office, where it came to a grinding halt. He added that while there were no casualties this time, the railway authorities need to increase safety measures at the station to ensure such an accident does not occur again.
Reports say that the incident occurred because the driver was speeding while driving the train backwards. Passengers in the station also claimed the driver's negligence had caused the accident.
Following the accident, Nagercoil Collector Sajjan Singh R Chavan said that Revenue Department officials had conducted an inspection of the site.
This is not the first instance of trains derailing in Tamil Nadu stations in the recent past. Just in September, a rail engine that was being moved to the yard derailed at the Egmore Railway Station in Chennai.
A similar incident also occurred in May, when the engine and three coaches of Erode-bound Yercaud Express also derailed at Arakkonam. Fortunately, thus far, none of these incidents have resulted in casualties.