Pune: A coach of Mumbai-Solapur Vande Bharat Express derailed while entering Pune station around 7.15pm on Monday, blocking the main line between Mumbai and Pune. No one was injured. Eight to nine train arrivals were affected.One Vande Bharat passenger said they had to sit in the train for over 90 minutes before being told to disembark. Thereafter, travellers had to walk along the tracks for around 600m with their heavy bags to reach the platforms.This is the first derailment of a coach of Vande Bharat trains, a railway official from Delhi confirmed. “The derailment occurred because of the non-standard diamond crossings at the Pune yard,” the official said.A diamond crossing is a railway intersection where two tracks cross each other at an angle, forming a diamond shape allowing trains to pass from multiple directions.Hemant Kumar Behera, divisional commercial manager and PRO of Pune railway division, said, a part of C-15 coach of CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express (22225) derailed. “The train’s engine had just entered platform number 3 when the coach derailed,” he said.“The train had food, but passengers were taken to platforms 2 and 3. Restoration works are on,” Behera said.Another official said, “One line from Pune to Mumbai is operational. Eight-nine trains are running late on the route. More trains can get delayed.”Central Railway’s chief PRO Swapnil Nila said, “The diamond crossing will be replaced on priority. Similar non-standard diamond crossings are being replaced across Indian Railways.”Solapur-bound passengers of derailed Vande Bharat Express spent anxious moments on a platform of Pune Junction till late in the night on Monday, as the railway authorities decided to send them to their destination in the rake of the delayed Deccan Queen.Behera, the divisional commercial manager and the public relations officer (PRO) of Pune railway division, said, “Passengers waiting to go to Solapur will be sent in Deccan Queen’s rake. It will take sometime before the train arrives because track restoration work is under way after the derailment of Vande Bharat Express.”The scheduled arrival time of Deccan Queen in Pune is 8.25pm. The train reached the city around 1am on Tuesday.Mumbai’s Jamil Sayyed, travelling on C-6 coach of the train, said, “My daughter and I were going to Solapur. We kept sitting in the train till around 8.50pm. Railway officials then announced that Pune-bound passengers should disembark and those travelling to Solapur should remain seated.” Sayyed told TOI.“After some time, the officials said this train wouldn’t go any further and passengers going to Solapur should also disembark. It took us around half-an-hour to reach the platform. We have been told that a train will come in sometime for us,” he said.
