Passenger train service resumes on Bhadrak-Balasore route, Vande Bharat crosses site

Bhubaneswar:  Passenger train service has been resumed on the tracks at the Bahanaga station in Odisha’s Balasore, where three trains collided leaving 275 dead and over 1,000 people injured.

Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw waved at the crew of a goods train and prayed for a safe journey, as services resumed on the affected route after 51 hours of a train accident, Sunday night. Vaishnaw was seen offering prayers with folding hands as train services were reinstated on the down-line track at the accident site.

A goods train carrying coal destined for Rourkela Steel Plant from Vizag port, departed at approximately 10:40 p.m Sunday.

The minister informed in his two tweets that both upline and down-line have been restored.

Getting emotional while speaking to the media at the accident site, Vaishnaw said that the responsibility was not yet over and vowed to go beyond the immediate aftermath of the incident, focusing on reuniting missing persons with their anxious family members.

Meanwhile, a passenger train and Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express train also resumed services after restoration of the tracks Monday morning. The Vande Bharat Express train was seen crossing the tracks of Bahanaga railway station with a very slow speed.

Notably, 275 persons have been killed and over 1,000 injured in the tragic triple train accident at Bahanaga station in Balasore last Friday. About 260 passengers are still under treatment at different government and private hospitals of Odisha.

–IANS