Landslide, due to heavy rains, blocked the New Delhi - Howrah railway line for over three hours on Saturday at around 5.15 am near Banskatwa-Nathgung Ghat section of the railways.
The incident spot happens to be within jurisdiction of Dhanbad Railway Division.
This caused delay in running of trains including two Rajdhani special trains including New Delhi-Ranchi and New Delhi- Sealdah and Gazipur Howrah train besides other goods trains.
The incident was spotted by the PWI who was on duty that time. The boulders that fell due to the landslide also damaged the locomotive of Ranchi bound Rajdhani special as it entered in one of the three tunnel that is part of the Ghat section, according to Rajesh Kumar Chief Public relations officer East Central Railways. However, there was no loss of life or derailment due to the landslide.
Divisional Railway Manager of Dhanbad Railway division Asish Bansal, who was travelling on the Sealdah Rajdhani special reached on spot by a special locomotive and inspected the rescue operation.
Later, when tracks were cleared the Ranchi Rajdhani express was sent to Gomoh Junction by the special locomotive and from Gomoh another locomotive took it to Ranchi.
The tracks were cleared around 8 am in presence of the Dhanbad DRM. The Ranchi Rajdhani special was first dispatched and after that the Sealdah Rajdhani Special special and GÃ zipur special trains were sent.
The Sealdah Rajdhani reached Dhanbad five hours late from its scheduled time at 11am to Dhanbad and Gazipur sealdah at 11.30Am .
The DRM Dhanbad has constituted a two member inquiry committee to inquire into the incident.
The enquiry team includes Senior divisional safety officer AK Roy and senior division engineer coordination Anit Kumar, informed PK Mishra spokesperson of Dhanbad Railway Division.
Meanwhile, DRM Ranchi, division in a Tweet has said that the Ranchi New Delhi special Rajdhani would leave Ranchi station about three hours late from scheduled departure at 9.15 pm today due to the aforementioned incident.