Work on the restoration of the tracks at the accident site at Bahanaga, in Odisha’s Balasore, was yet to be completed by Sunday night, senior railway officials said.
On Sunday, a dozen trains were cancelled and 19 were diverted. The Bengaluru-Jasidih Express was rescheduled.
Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Sunday the restoration work following the Friday evening tragedy was progressing on a war footing.
“The railway tracks of the two main lines in the section have been restored and are fit. Work-related to overhead power and others are in progress,” the minister said during a media interaction on Sunday evening.
After partial restoration, a goods train ran through the stretch around 11pm on Sunday in the presence of the railway minister.
Senior engineers associated with railway signalling and traffic control said the restoration of the signalling system around the accident site would take some time because of the complexities of automatic signalling.
“The restoration will have to be carried out according to the SOP laid down in the railway manual for traffic and signalling engineers. Without it, it will be difficult to get a clearance from the commissioner of railway safety before train service is restored on the stretch,” a senior official said.
Among the trains cancelled were the Bengaluru-Guwahati Express, Bengaluru-Kamakhya Express, Puri-Sealdah Duronto Express, Puri-Patna Express, Guwahati-Bengaluru Express and the Calcutta-Puri Express.
Senior railway officials said the bulk of the trains in the South-Eastern Railway and East Coast divisions were diverted through the Kharagpur-Tata-Rourkela-Jharsuguda route, while a few others were diverted along the east coast — Kapilas Road station (Odisha)- Jaroli (Odisha)-Dangoapasi (Jharkhand) route.
Earlier in the day, the railway minister tweeted: “Track linking of Up-line has been done at 16:45 hrs. Overhead electrification work started.”
Senior railway officials said the railway minister was overseeing the restoration work and groups of skilled personnel have been tasked with separate responsibilities.
