Darjeeling, June 18: Train services resumed on Tuesday on the railway line in the Phansidewa area of the Darjeeling district where the Kanchenjunga Express train met with an accident on Monday, killing 8 people and leaving around 25 people injured.

A Railway official told ANI that, the restoration work on the railway line had started yesterday night. The trial of an engine was carried out upline towards NJP (New Jalpaiguri Junction) on Monday.

Surendra Kumar, DRM Katihar, Northeast Frontier Railway told ANI that for the last 24 hours, all the workers have been working very diligently to restore the railway line.

"For the last 24 hours, all the railway workers have been working very diligently. There was incessant rainfall last night, yet they were working to restore the line...Almost 90% work has been done...All causes that could have contributed to this incident are being examined by CCRS," Surendra Kumar said.

Meanwhile, the accident-hit Kanchanjungha Express with its unaffected coaches arrived at its destination station, Sealdah in Kolkata, in the early hours of Tuesday after the completion of restoration work.

The accident took place about 10 km from the New Jalpaiguri station, in the Katihar division of Northeast Frontier Railway, at 8.55 a.m.

The accident happened when a goods train collided with the Kanchanjunga Express. The goods train hit a stationary Kanchanjunga Express from behind on the same track at speed.

Due to the accident, several trains running under the Northeast Frontier Railways were cancelled or diverted on Tuesday.

According to an official release from the Northeast Frontier Railways, five trains, including (15719) Katihar-Siliguri Intercity Express, (15720) Siliguri-Katihar Intercity Express, (12042) New Jalpaiguri-Howrah Shatabdi Express, (12041) Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Shatabdi Express and (15724) Siliguri-Jogbani Intercity Express have been cancelled for today.

Train number 12523 from New Jalpaiguri to New Delhi Superfast Express has been rescheduled to leave at 12.00 hrs, as per the release by Northeast Frontier Railways Chief Public Relations officer Sabyasachi De. As per the railways, train number 20504 from New Delhi--Dibrugarh Rajdhani Express, 13176 from Silchar--Sealedah Kanchanjungha Express, and 12523 from New Jalpaiguri--New Delhi Superfast Express were diverted.

(ANI)

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