Following the resumption of passenger train services in Balasore district, Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express successfully traversed the restored railway track in Odisha’s Balasore on Monday. The train services in the area had been disrupted due to the triple train accident that occurred on June 2 near the Bahanaga Baazar station, approximately 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar.The accident involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Express, Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, and a goods train. The Indian Railways resumed passenger train operations on the affected route on Monday morning. The tragic triple train accident in Balasore claimed the lives of 275 people and left over 1,000 injured. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express via video conferencing on May 18.
Meanwhile, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday evening waved at the crew of a goods train and prayed for a safe journey, as services resumed after 51 hours of a train accident in Balasore.
“Services on both tracks have been restored. Normal train services on both lines have now been restored, 51 hours after the accident,” said Ashwini Vaishnaw.
On Sunday, Vaishnaw said the accident occurred due to a “change in electronic interlocking”.Electronic interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements between trains through an arrangement of tracks.