By IANS,
New Delhi: A coach of a Delhi Metro train was derailed near Dwarka station Wednesday. All the 34 passengers aboard the coach escaped unhurt in the accident caused after the train driver jumped a signal point, an official said.
This was the first derailment in the seven years of the capital’s Metro train service, which is daily used by nearly 850,000 commuters.
The accident on the Yamuna Bank-Dwarka line took place at 3.18 p.m. on the elevated platform near the Dwarka Metro station in the southwest Delhi. The train had just started off and was headed to the Yamuna Bank station in east Delhi.
According to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson Anuj Dayal the derailment took place moments after train number 5015 started rolling.
“Four wheels of the front bogey went off the track near the Dwarka Metro station,” Dayal said.
“The front bogey (set of four wheels) of the leading coach burst through the (signal) point, derailed and travelled about 30 metres beyond the signal point. Since the train had started from Dwarka Station, there were only 34 passengers on board,” he added.
Dayal said the accident appeared to have been caused by a “human error” since the driver of the Metro rail jumped a signal point when he should have stopped.
The driver, who was not named, may be sacked for his negligence, an official said.
He has been piloting trains independently since September 2008. On Wednesday, he began his shift at 2.55 p.m. and this was his first trip of the day.
“The DMRC has zero tolerance for negligence and today’s was a serious lapse on the driver’s part, for which he is likely to lose his job,” the official told IANS.
The DMRC has ordered an inquiry. An engineer’s team is likely to submit its report Thursday.
The Yamuna Bank-Dwarka line, that runs via the busy Connaught Place commercial district in central Delhi, is one of the busiest routes in the capital. On an average, as many as 350,000 people travel by this route daily.
The Metro service on the track was disrupted till 6.30 p.m. Trains on the route were delayed even as the derailed train was put back to the tracks.
The accident occurred a month after Delhi Metro’s July 12 tragedy in which six workers died when a beam of an under-construction elevated track collapsed in south Delhi.
Over 850,000 people commute on the Delhi Metro’s three routes that run between southwest, east, north and central Delhi.