Lack of maintenance and pre-winter checks led to major chaos at the Howrah station on Monday, resulting in severe inconvenience to thousands of commuters and long-distance passengers.
Trains services to and from Howrah got disrupted at 11.20am and the ordeal continued till 3.30pm when normal services were finally restored. By then, several long-distance and suburban trains were delayed both in the Eastern and South Eastern Railway networks.
Trouble erupted when the 12340 Dhanbad-Howrah Coalfield Express was approaching the station at 11.20am through the Down chord line. At the Howrah yard, the pantograph of its locomotive suddenly got entangled in the over-head equipment (OHE) and snapped. Power supply tripped immediately and all trains (those being hauled by electric locomotives and EMU locals) came to a stop. An inspection team rushed to the spot and found that the pantograph had got badly entangled in the overhead wires and would have to be cut free. It was found that another locomotive (a diesel one) would have to be brought to haul the rake to the platform.
Power supply to the OHE was restored in platforms 7 to 13 around 11.45am but by then several trains got stranded and seven platforms proved inadequate. Later, train movement in the Up chord line and to and from platform 9 was affected due to a power block taken by restoration staff. A long stream of passengers and commuters - waiting for trains - trudged down the tracks to Howrah station. Some of them had corresponding trains to catch from Howrah and could not risk delay.
"I dare not go to Sealdah now to catch my train to north Bengal. I am now waiting for an Up train to take me to Bandel where the north Bengal train stops for a few minutes," said a young man whose 11-km train ride from Hind Motors to Howrah had taken over one and a half hours.
According to Howrah divisional railway manager Parthasarathi Mandal, the problem may have occurred due to 'contraction' of the insulators along the OHE. "This happens due to temperature variation. We had a lot of trouble since the wee hours of Monday after track fractures were detected at various locations. This also happened due to the temperature variation," he said.
Other officials blamed lack of maintenance for the mess at Howrah. According to them, pre-winter and pre-monsoon checks should be conducted to check the condition of the insulators. Had the pre-winter check been carried out, Monday's incident may have been avoided, they said.
Trains services to and from Howrah got disrupted at 11.20am and the ordeal continued till 3.30pm when normal services were finally restored. By then, several long-distance and suburban trains were delayed both in the Eastern and South Eastern Railway networks.
Trouble erupted when the 12340 Dhanbad-Howrah Coalfield Express was approaching the station at 11.20am through the Down chord line. At the Howrah yard, the pantograph of its locomotive suddenly got entangled in the over-head equipment (OHE) and snapped. Power supply tripped immediately and all trains (those being hauled by electric locomotives and EMU locals) came to a stop. An inspection team rushed to the spot and found that the pantograph had got badly entangled in the overhead wires and would have to be cut free. It was found that another locomotive (a diesel one) would have to be brought to haul the rake to the platform.
Power supply to the OHE was restored in platforms 7 to 13 around 11.45am but by then several trains got stranded and seven platforms proved inadequate. Later, train movement in the Up chord line and to and from platform 9 was affected due to a power block taken by restoration staff. A long stream of passengers and commuters - waiting for trains - trudged down the tracks to Howrah station. Some of them had corresponding trains to catch from Howrah and could not risk delay.
"I dare not go to Sealdah now to catch my train to north Bengal. I am now waiting for an Up train to take me to Bandel where the north Bengal train stops for a few minutes," said a young man whose 11-km train ride from Hind Motors to Howrah had taken over one and a half hours.
According to Howrah divisional railway manager Parthasarathi Mandal, the problem may have occurred due to 'contraction' of the insulators along the OHE. "This happens due to temperature variation. We had a lot of trouble since the wee hours of Monday after track fractures were detected at various locations. This also happened due to the temperature variation," he said.
Other officials blamed lack of maintenance for the mess at Howrah. According to them, pre-winter and pre-monsoon checks should be conducted to check the condition of the insulators. Had the pre-winter check been carried out, Monday's incident may have been avoided, they said.
