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BHUBANESWAR/BALANGIR/ BHAWANIPATNA: The railways on Sunday suspended seven employees after 22 coaches of the 18406 Ahmedabad-Puri Express (via Sambalpur), with around 1,000 passengers on board, rolled on for 13km minus the engine in Titlagarh section of the state on Saturday night.

The incident took place when the Puri-bound train arrived in Titlagarh, around 385km from Bhubaneswar, at 9.35pm on Saturday. Here, it was to reverse its direction to head to Puri via Sambalpur in a process called loco or rake reversal. As part of that, the engine is detached and re-attached to the other end of the train, while the coaches are held in place with the help of skid brakes on the wheels. It is suspected that the skid brakes were not applied or did not work properly in this case, resulting in the coaches going off-route and rolling towards Kesinga in Kalahandi district — which is located on a downward slope from Titlagarh — at 10.10pm.

READ ALSO: Passengers recount horror as engine-less train rolls on track

Train stopped by placing stones on tracks: Sources

An ECoR spokesperson said, “When the engine is detached from one end of the train to be reattached to the other, the coaches should be secured with the help of skid brakes at the wheels. In this case, it appears that these had not been placed properly. The facts will be known after a detailed enquiry.”

The ‘headless’ coaches crossed a bridge over the Tel river and passed Kesinga station before slowing down at a level crossing.

Later, railway staff managed to stop them by placing stones on the tracks, said official sources. After a thorough check, the train — this time with the engine attached — left Kesinga for Titlagarh at 12.35am. It arrived in Puri at 1.30pm, around five hours late.

Videos circulating on social media show people on a platform at Kesinga station frantically screaming and gesturing at the passengers to pull the chain. No one was hurt in the incident but it caused panic among the passengers. They were initially not aware of anything amiss but grew alarmed when they realised that the train had left its engine behind.

“Before we could understand anything, it had started rolling towards Kesinga. We tried pulling the chains but nothing happened since there was no engine,” said Mukesh Sharma, a passenger. “I think it was going at 40kmph. When it crossed the river bridge, we were trembling with fear,” he added.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has expressed concern over the incident. “Passenger safety is above everything and cannot be compromised. Railway minister Piyush Goyal should take remedial action to address the lapses,” he tweeted.

The suspended staff are engine driver S Venkat Rao, assistant engine driver Sushant Singh, carriage and wagon department employees GS Panda, Lakha Kaspeta and P Bagh, and operating department employees Kanta Kharavel and Dharmendra Nihal . The railway ministry has sought a report from East Coast Railway (ECoR) zone within three days.

Besides suspending the seven officials, divisional railway manager (Sambalpur) Jaideep Gupta has ordered an inquiry by a panel comprising divisional heads of different departments.

The probe will be supervised by a senior officer. General manager of ECoR zone Umesh Singh has called for immediate corrective action, while the railway board has ordered a month-long, countrywide drive on shunting to be held by operating and electrical departments.

