At least five coaches of the Nagpur-Mumbai Duronto Express derailed in Maharashtra’s Thane district on Tuesday, officials said. According to the Central Railway, there were no reports of any casualties or injuries so far in the incident which occurred at around 6.30 a.m., between the Asangaon and Vashind stations.
Top Central Railway officials are rushing to the spot to supervise relief and rescue operations. Central Railway spokesperson A K. Jain said the derailed coaches includes the engine.
While the exact cause of the derailment is not yet clear, it is suspected that a portion of the tracks were breached due to heavy rains in the Kasara Ghats section since the past three days.
The entire railway line has been affected including suburban services in the Mumbai-Thane sectors hitting morning office peak hour commuters hard.
Since the past four days, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Mumbai-Pune-Nashik plus Konkan have been battered by torrential rains.
This is the third major incident of derailment in the past two weeks in the country and the second affecting the Mumbai suburban sector in three days.