Title - Railway officials still clueless on derailment incidents

VARANASI: More than 48 hours after repeated derailment of coaches of two trains at Cantonment railway station yard, the railway officials are groping in the dark to establish the cause of derailment. While a series of joint investigations by a team of mechanical and civil experts of NER (Varanasi division) and NR (Lucknow division) have been already carried out, the railway officials are not able to pinpoint the scientific cause of derailment. "A series of investigations have been done to ascertain the cause and reasons for derailment but as of now, nothing concrete and substantial has come out to confirm the reason for derailment. The investigations are being done from all possible angles and there seems to be two possibilities indicating either defect in railway track or the coaches that were derailed," divisional railway manager (DRM), NER (Varanasi), Lalit Kapoor told TOI on Sunday. It may be mentioned here that the yard at Cantonment railway station near platform one (main platform) witnessed repeated derailment of coaches of trains in a spate of 24 hours recently. While a coach of Kanpur-Gorakhpur Chauri Chaura Express was derailed at the yard at the wee hours on May 10, as many as two coaches of Manduadih-Chapra passenger train were also derailed at the same site a day later to bring railway authorities on their toes. A number of senior railway authorities including general manager, NR (New Delhi), VN Rajshekharan and GM, NER (Gorakhpur), KBL Mittal along with DRM, NR(Lucknow), Jagdeep Rai and DRM, NER (Varanasi) have made a series of visit to the site after the derailment."The only confirmation is the fact that the derailment occurred at the point of crossing (number 274 and 275). It is also surprising that the process of derailment has been almost similar with all the three derailed coaches falling on the right side. As the derailment has occurred at the point of crossing, defect in the railway track is also not established," added the DRM, NER (Varanasi).Meanwhile, taking serious note of repeated derailment at the same site, orders have been issued to intensify preventive measures besides beefing up vigilance at the yard. According to DRM (NER), a total of three orders have been passed to intensify preventive measures including strengthening of crossing points, upgrading the drainage system to prevent waterlogging that weakens the soil and to intensify rolling examination to strengthen maintenance work.