Title - Train tragedy averted as a bogie gets detached again

Just a few days after the passengers of an express train had a miraculous escape after a bogie got detached from the train in Alappuzha, a bogie of the Nilambur-Thiruvananthapuram Rajyarani Express derailed near Changanasserry in the wee hours of Wednesday, disrupting traffic on the busy route. As the bogie came to a halt a few seconds after it got detached a major tragedy was averted. No one was injured in the incident. Meanwhile, rail traffic was blocked in this route for more than five hours creating hardships to thousands of passengers including Sabarimala pilgrims.
    The incident happened when a pair of wheels in the three-tier AC compartment broke off from the bogie around 3.55am near Nalukodi Railway gate. The wheels got derailed as the box containing batteries of the air conditioning unit fixed to it slipped down.
    According to the mechanical division of railways, the box might have hit some hard substance due to the jerking of the train which resulted in the breaking off. The wheels were dragged along for around 600 meters before the brake system of the train also got jammed automatically.
    The traffic was restored along the track at 8.45am, after the derailed bogie was towed away. Rajyarani express also resumed its journey at 10.05am from Chengannur. Since traffic was not diverted through Aleppey, most of the trains halted at various stations.The Chennai Super fast and Malabar express halted at Kottayam station till track was cleared.
    Meanwhile railway experts said that bad maintenance and primitive designs of the coaches were the cause of frequent accidents in the state. “Most of the coaches were designed decades back and the railways is not taking effort to introduce new designs according to the new trend,” said an expert. “In the 60’s the speed was in the 40-5-kmph range, but now it is much more.
    But the compartments have the same old design,” he said.The expert said that the train derailed because of the low clearance of the battery box. “There is only a clearance of 15cm. There have been repeated requests made to the Railways to change this age old design to give more clearance for the battery box,” he said.