Tanker lands on railway section at Kalyan-Kasara

There was no train on the stretch, so a major calamity was prevented

In what could have been a major mishap, the driver of a gas tanker running on the highway parallel to the railway line, lost control after the vehicle's tyre burst, and landed on the rail tracks between Atgaon-Asangaon stations of the Kalyan-Kasara section on Monday evening. Luckily, no train was passing the stretch at the time, otherwise it could have led to a major calamity.

A number of suburban and outstation mail express trains were detained in both directions as the section was suspended for rail traffic for nearly two hours. The Kasara-bound line was restored at 9.10 pm and the CSMT-bound line at 9.30 pm after track safety inspections.

With the Central Railway, the first responders were the Thane's Disaster Management team that quickly arranged required cranes and equipment to remove the tanker stuck on the rails. Since the tanker was empty, it could be put back on the road faster.

Central Railway Chief spokesperson Shivaji Sutar told mid-day, "For safety reasons, Up & Down lines on the Northeast section have been suspended for traffic from 7.40 pm onwards. Road cranes and other relief trains/vehicles have been moved to clear the section as soon as possible. In co-ordination with the local disaster management teams, we arranged buses for passengers stranded at Kalyan."