Freak Rly mishap kills two, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a compensation Rs 5 lakh to the families of those killed, Rs 1 lakh to those seriously injured and Rs 10,000 to those who received minor injuries in the Thane bridge collapse.
TMC, CR in blame game Even as the railway services are yet to be restored, a blame game has started between CR and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). While CR spokesperson A K Singh said they have asked the TMC to carry out necessary repairs, however, they have not done it yet. On the other hand TMC City Engineer K D Lala said that they have several times sought permission of the railway to change the girders, however, the CR never accorded permission.
Probe ordered Commissioner Railway Safety, Central Circle, Sudhir Kumar will conduct an enquiry on Monday at Thane station, and on Tuesday in Divisional Railway Manager’s office at CST-Mumbai.
Delay killed motorman R Ramchandran, the motorman who died in the tragic accident near Thane railway station was battling for life for over three hours in the motorman’s cabin as the firemen failed to remove him from the debris in time.The motorman was trapped in his cabin as it was completely damaged. Pipeline, overbridge falls on Kalyan local Trains to Pune, Nashik, Nagpur affected
Two persons including a motorman were killed and 10 others were injured, two of them grievously, when a portion of under construction Road Over Bridge along with adjacent water pipelines collapsed over a speeding suburban train in Kopri between Thane and Mulund stations on the Central Railway, severely disrupting the train traffic.
The train, K37, was on its way to Kalyan from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus when the incident took place at 10.52 am.The mishap in which the pipeline carrying water from western part of Thane to the eastern parts burst and the railway overhead electricity wires snapped threw railway traffic out of gear. Normalcy is expected only by Saturday evening.
As soon as the report of the incident came, an accident relief van was rushed to the spot.
Services on all the four up and down lines were affected because of the accident. It would take nearly 30 hours to restore the services, CR officials said.
On Friday evening, train services were being run between CST-Ghatkopar and ThaneKalyan and beyond. Pass-holders of CR were allowed to travel on Western Railway (WR) and harbour routes.
WR tied up with MSRTC to run buses between Borivli and Thane/Bhiwandi. Similarly, pass-holders were also allowed to travel between CST-Vashi-Thane route. As many as 88 additional buses were deployed between CST-Sion-Ghatkopar-Thane.
Heavy rush was seen at some railway stations, however, CR was constantly updating the passengers through SMS alert system besides Radio and TV announcements.
The girders and pipes fell on the motorman’s cabin and the adjacent luggage compartment, trapping several people including the motorman. While most of the trapped commuters were rescued by the onlookers present and fire brigade personnel, the motorman identified as R Ramachandra (43) remained trapped inside his cabin till 2.30 pm. He, however, died before he could be rushed to the Thane civil hospital.
One more person who had died earlier was identified as Subhash Popat Nikam, a resident of Bhandup.
Of the 10 injured all of whom are undergoing treatment at the Thane civil hospital, the condition of two is said to be serious
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