Movement of trains on Gaya - Dhanbad section of the grand chord railway line remained disrupted for over six hours as a goods' trains coming towards Dhanbad detailed after hitting a wild elephant at 338/4 km of the track.The incident took place around 11.40 PM on Friday night.
The elephant died on the spot but the engine of the goods train jumped tracks and was dragged up to over five hundred feet.Two more wagons also were derailed blocking both up and down lines of this New Delhi- Howrah route , informed Dhanbad Railway divisional PRO PK Mishra.
The engine was completely damaged as its wheels too were detached due to the accident. Senior officers from Dhanbad division including DRM Asish Bansal reached on spot with the rescue team from Gomoh junction and started track restoration work.
It took over six hours to restore both tracks and operation on both tracks started at 6.10 AM, according to the DPRO.
Local villagers said that the herd of elephants is in nearby jungles and often enters villages in search of food. The villagers were engaged in dragging out the herd in cooperation with forest authorities on Friday night .The incident may be the outcome of this as one may have reached on tracks told, one of the villagers.
Several trains were diverted including Ranchi Rajdhani express due to the incident.