Delhi commuters narrowly escaped a major accident on Wednesday morning after coaches slipped off the tracks, forcing the cancellation of several local services and leaving hundreds stranded.
Two coaches of a train derailed near Shakur Basti railway station in New Delhi on Wednesday (10 December), triggering panic but thankfully causing no injuries. The incident happened around 10:30 AM, just moments after the train started moving from the station, and it threw a massive wrench into rail traffic on the busy Rohtak-Delhi section.
Railway officials confirmed that the train involved was a parcel train (some reports say it was an empty rake), which meant there were no passengers on board when things went wrong. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news? The derailment blocked the tracks for nearly three hours, forcing Northern Railways to cancel at least three local trains, including the Rohtak-New Delhi and Jind-New Delhi passenger services that thousands of people rely on daily.
Beyond the cancellations, 14 other trains were “short-terminated” basically stopped before reaching their final destination and turned back leaving hundreds of daily commuters scrambling for alternatives. Crowds gathered at stations along the Green Line route, with many forced to switch to buses and cabs to make it into the city center. Not exactly anyone’s idea of a smooth morning commute.
Emergency teams and senior officers rushed to the scene immediately. Using heavy cranes, they lifted the derailed coaches back onto the tracks by early afternoon, allowing operations to gradually get back to normal.
“A major rail accident was narrowly avoided… As per early details, the train had just departed from Shakur Basti when two of its coaches unexpectedly went off the tracks,” reported Lokmat Times.
“The incident happened at 10:30 AM… primary investigation suggests the coaches slipped off the track immediately after exiting the yard. A probe has been ordered to ascertain if this was a track fault or a mechanical failure,” a railway official told local media.
This incident adds to a concerning pattern of minor derailments that have hit Indian Railways in recent months, raising some uncomfortable questions about track maintenance and safety protocols. Shakur Basti is a critical logistics hub for Delhi, handling massive volumes of freight and cement loading, so any disruption here creates a domino effect across the entire Northern Railway network.
While services have been restored, a high-level inquiry has been launched to figure out exactly what caused the derailment. If you’re a regular commuter on the Delhi-Rohtak route, you’ll want to check your train status for the next 24 hours as schedules work their way back to normal.
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