CHENNAI: A major disaster was averted at Chennai Beach station on Sunday after an empty suburban train being brought in for a trip derailed and slammed into the end of the platform around 4.30pm. No one was injured in the accident.
The motorman was rescued and given first aid. The first two coaches climbed out of the platform and crashed into the platform shelter and into the back of shops lining Rajaji Salai. Suburban services were not affected as trains were operated from other platforms. However, a couple of trains were held up in the outer area of the station as an accident relief train was being moved to the station.
There were no commuters on the platform as staff did not announce the destination of the train being brought in from the yard. It was a Sunday and the station, which sees footfalls of around 3,000 commuters on a weekday, was not busy.
The rake was to be used to run as a Beach-Chengalpet service from platform one when the accident took place. Witnesses said the train, though running slow, crashed into the buffer at the end of the platform with a huge noise. “I heard a huge noise which resembled a series of explosions. There were sparks all over the platform from the overhead power cable. I ran out of the shop,” said N Kannan*, who works in a shop on the platform.
Sources said a brake failure or a derailing of coaches could be behind the accident but the reason could be judged only after an investigation. The two affected coaches were detached and the rake moved to the shed by 6.30pm.
Southern Railway in a statement said that while taking an empty EMU rake from shed line to platform 1, the rake overshot the buffer end of the platform and damaged it. “The rake was empty and no passengers on board. No injury to any passengers on the platform. Shunter jumped out of the rake and no injury was sustained. An inquiry at the appropriate level will be conducted to assess the cause.”
Platform one runs parallel to Rajaji Salai. More than 30 shops line the pavement of the road parallel to the platform where the train came in. “The shops were open. But no one was injured in the accident,” said a trader. The RPF and police told the shop keepers to close as railway officials assessed ways in which the two affected coaches could be retrieved.
Southern Railway (Chennai division)PRO A Elumalai said “A shunting locomotive was being used to pull the two stricken coaches away from the platform.
