JAMSHEDPUR/KOLKATA, 9 AUG

Two goods trains got derailed in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharswan district on Saturday under South Eastern Railway's Adra division, leading to the cancellation of several express trains, an official said.

The accident occurred when the two goods trains were passing each other in opposite directions between Chandil and Nimdih stations in Jharkhand, the SER official said.

There was no report of any injury in the derailments, an official said.

He said that, as per initial reports, a few carriages of one of the two goods trains got derailed and hit the middle portion of the train moving in the opposite direction in the double-line section, leading to the derailment of some of its wagons.

The derailments in the early hours of Saturday severely affected train movement in the Chandil-Gunda Bihar section of Adra division, the SER official said.

Train services on both the up and down tracks from Chandil are affected due to the derailment, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Adra Division) Vikash Kumar told PTI.

The SER official said that efforts are on to restore train movement in the section at the earliest.

Several other express and passenger trains have also been diverted or short-terminated, he said.

The 20897/20898 Howrah-Ranchi-Howrah Vande Bharat express, 20894 Patna-Tatanagar Vande Bharat express, 18183 Tatanagar-Buxar express, 13301/13302 Dhanbad-Tatanagar-Dhanbad express, and 28181/28182 Tatanagar-Katihar-Tatanagar express are among the express trains cancelled owing to the accident, he said.

The Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express (via Sambalpur) has been diverted via Jharsuguda-Rourkela-Nuagaon-Hatia-Bokaro Steel City-Rajaber, whereas Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Purushottam Express will be diverted via Hijili-Modinagar-Adra-Bhojudih-Gomoh, it said.

Three passenger MEMU, including Tata-Asansol and Tata-Hatia, would remain cancelled for the day.

LTT-Howrah Express stranded between Chandil-Kandra will be short-terminated and diverted via Tata-Kharagpur-Howrah, the statement said.