Vande Bharat derailment delays trains by hours, passengers suffer amid scorcher

Pune: Several trains on the Pune-Mumbai route and to other destinations were rescheduled or delayed by hours on Tuesday morning under the cascading effect of the derailment of CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express near Pune Junction station on Monday evening.Hemant Kumar Behera, the divisional commercial manager and PRO of the Pune rail division, said as many as 10 trains, including Deccan Queen and Pragati Express, were rescheduled. Solapur-CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express was cancelled on Tuesday.Hundreds of commuters were stranded at the station amid sweltering heat. Railway officials expressed hope that the situation would limp back to normal in the evening.Behera said, "The Deccan Queen rake was used for the transportation of Vande Bharat Express passengers to Solapur. It left at 1.15am on Tuesday. So, the Mumbai-bound Deccan Queen left Pune at 1.41pm against its scheduled departure time of 7.15am. The train is expected to be delayed on its return leg also. Pragati Express left Pune at 11.30am against its scheduled departure time of 7.45am."Many Mumbai-bound passengers said they had no clue about the rescheduling of Pragati Express and Deccan Queen. "I reached the station and came to know that both the trains would operate in the afternoon hours because of the derailment. So, I took an MSRTC bus to Mumbai," Pratham Marathe, a working professional, said.Ahsan Shaikh had to go to Mumbai for urgent work. He took a cab spending almost Rs2500."I would have been late had I travelled by a bus. I had to pick up a relative from the Mumbai airport. All my plans went for a toss," the Bibwewadi resident said.Railway officials said the derailment of Vande Bharat Express had caused a major bunching of trains at Pune station and movements would be affected throughout the day. A total of nine trains, mainly locals and DEMUs, were cancelled. All local trains on the Pune-Lonavla route operated from Shivajinagar station instead of Pune. "Our teams at the station are passing on all relevant information to passengers," a railway official said.Passengers of several long-distance trains were stranded. Ankit Kumar and his family, including two children, had reached the Pune Junction station around 10am on Tuesday to board Pune-Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express, scheduled to leave at 11.30am. He was shocked to find the train delayed by hours."When I arrived, I saw a huge crowd and chaos on the platform. Later, I found out that the train was rescheduled to 5.30pm. It is extremely frustrating to wait for the train in this scorching heat," Kumar told TOI on Tuesday.Keshav Prasad Tiwary and his family members were to board Pune-Ghazipur Express at 3.40pm. "I have come to know that the train is delayed. The railway officials are not confirming its rescheduled time. They are saying they don't have any idea about the same. How can that be possible?" he said.(With inputs from Mandar Deshpande)
Get real-time updates and result insights on the Assam HS Result 2026 and Gujarat Election Results 2026