BAHANAGA: Train services have resumed on the Howrah-Chennai route which on Friday night witnessed a horrific train crash, killing 275 and injuring above 1,000 passengers aboard Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express and Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express.
The train services started nearly 51 hours of the tragic incident, following completion of restoration work on Sunday night.
A coal-laden goods train from Vizag port in Andhra Pradesh started its journey towards Rourkela Steel plant at around 10.40 pm on Sunday night. Union railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw remained present at the spot during the resumption of the services.
The goods train ran on the same track where the ill-fated Bangalore-Howrah train met with the deadly accident on Friday.
Taking to Twitter, Vaishnaw announced the resumption of services on the track and wrote, "Down-line restoration complete. First train movement in section.”
Barely two hours after the restoration of the down line, the up line was also restored.
An empty goods train was the first train to run on the up line of the accident affected section. This is the same track on which the Coromandel Express was running before it entered into the loop line to crash into a stationary goods train.
"Three trains have left from the section (two down and one up) and we have planned to run around seven tonight. We have to take this entire section towards normalisation. Our objective is to ensure that all the missing persons' family members find them as soon as possible. Our responsibility is not over yet," said a visibly emotional Vaishnaw as he announced the restoration of the accident-affected section.
The Indian Railways has started running passenger trains on the tracks which were affected due to the train accident.
