Express train derails near Vellore, five sustain minor injuries (Third Lead)

Passengers of the Bengaluru-bound Kanyakumari-Bangalore City Express had a narrow escape on Friday morning as the train derailed near Tamil Nadu's Vellore district, railway officials said. No deaths or major injuries to any passenger were reported.

"Fortunately no lives were lost. Also no passenger suffered any major injuries. Around five passengers suffered minor injuries and were given first aid," South Western Railway PRO S. Biswas told IANS over phone from Bengaluru.

Initially, there were conflicting reports about the number of passengers who were injured in the accident, ranging from 15 to 40.

The press statements issued by Southern Railway and South Western Railway were silent on the number of injured passengers.

The Southern Railway in a statement said the coaches derailed at 4.15 a.m. between Somanayakkanpatti and Patchur of the Bangalore Railway Division.

The accident in Vellore, about 170 km from here, disrupted traffic in the section but normalcy is expected to be restored by Saturday morning, the South Western Railway said.

Nevertheless, three Saturday trains - Train No.12028 Bengaluru City-Chennai Shatabdi Express, Train No.16519 Jolarpettai-Bengaluru City Express and Train No.12692 Shri Sathya Sai Prashanthi Nilayam-Chennai Express - have been cancelled.

According to the Railways, seven buses and a special train from Jolarpettai in Vellore district were arranged to transport passengers to Bengaluru and senior officials have reached the accident spot.

Owing to the accident the Southern Railway has cancelled 11 trains between Chennai-Bengaluru, Jolarpettai-Bengaluru and Arakonam-Bengaluru.

The Chennai-Mysore Shatabdi Express for Friday has been partially cancelled between Jolarpettai and Mysore.

Similarly, the Mysore-Chennai Shatabdi Express has been partially cancelled between Mysore and Jolarpettai.

Train number 16614 between Coimbatore-Rajkot has been diverted via Tirupattur, Jolarpettai, Katpadi and Renigunta.

For Passengers' assistance, the following help line numbers are provided by the Southern Railway.

Madurai: 0452-2308250 Salem: 0427-2431947 Trichur: 0487-2430060 Thiruvananthapuram: 0471-2320012 Palakkad: 0491-2555231 / 0491-2556198 Bangalore: 080-22156553, 080-22156554, 080-22873103 Bangalore Cantonment: 080-23339162 Krishnarajapuram: 080-25650308.