Derailment of Vande Bharat Express hits train movements at Pune on Tuesday

PUNE: The derailment of the CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express on Monday evening had a cascading effect on train movements at the Pune railway station on Tuesday with many trains including the inter-city trains between Pune and Mumbai getting rescheduled. Furthermore, all the local trains between Pune and Lonavla were originating and terminating from the Shivajinagar station instead of Pune.Hemant Kumar Behera, the divisional commercial manager and PRO of the Pune rail division told TOI that as many as 10 trains including the Pragati Express, the Deccan Queen, Hazrat Nizamuddin Doranto Expess, Udyan Express etc, had been rescheduled. "The timings have changed and we are sending out bulk text messages to all passengers informing them about the same. The restoration work of the Vande Bharat Express, which stands cancelled on Tuesday, took more time resulting in the bunching of trains. The railways are keeping a close eye," he said. "All the 42 local trains will not use the Pune station on Tuesday. Also, in addition to the Vande Bharat Express, some local and DEMU trains have been cancelled too. The work on re-railment of the Vande Bharat Express was completed at around 12.17am following which regular train movements resumed. Our staff at the Pune railway station, in coordination with the RPF, is working to inform passengers about the status of trains. The number of train disruptions can see an increase but the situation is expected to return to normal by the end of the day," another official said.Many passengers, who were to go to Mumbai in the morning hours for work mainly, said that they had no clue about the rescheduling of the Pragati Express and the Deccan Queen. "While the Pragati Express starts from Pune at 7.45am, the Deccan Queen leaves Pune at around 7.15am. I reached the station and came to know that both the trains will operate in the afternoon hours due to the derailment. Having left with no options, I had to take an MSRTC bus to Mumbai," Pratham Marathe, a working professional, said.