Rourkela: The station manager of Rourkela station and four other railway officials were suspended on Thursday, a day after three wagons of a freight train derailed, crashed through a boundary wall and fell on a road at Malgodown basti near Basanti Colony here.
The suspension comes as part of the investigation into the cause behind the incident. “Further inquiry on the matter is underway,” Sopan Dutta, the public relations officer of South Eastern Railway, said.
Besides the station manager, three points man and a shunting jamadar are among those suspended.
The incident took place around 6:30 am on Wednesday when the train was being reversed towards the railway stockyard near Rourkela station for loading. The loco pilot, while placing the freight train at the goods shed line, could not control it and the last wagon of the train broke the wall at the dead end of the track, entered the road in Malgodown basti area and crushed a tempo and a rickshaw on its way.
Durga Sahu, daughter of the tempo owner, lodged an FIR with Government Railway Police (GRP) here about the damage caused to the vehicle and accordingly, GRP, Rourkela did a station diary.
Following the incident, an inquiry by a committee, headed by assistant railway manager (Bondamunda) Samir Sourav was launched.
No one was injured in the accident as residents of Malgodown basti ran out of their homes as the wagon almost reached near the slum. The accident disrupted vehicular movement at Malgodown level crossing and Basanti Colony for about five hours. Railway Protection Force personnel and other officials rushed to the spot and employed gas cutters and other machinery to remove the rail wagons from the road. After about five hours, the wagon was removed from road and taken to the track area.