The Puri-Howrah Vande Bharat Express, which left Puri on Sunday afternoon, was left stranded near Odisha’s Bhadrak for close to four hours after the overhead equipment of the railway line were damaged during a thunderstorm.
Multiple coaches at the rear of the train were on a bridge on the Baitarani river when it stopped, said railway officials.
TV channels showed the train was stuck because of a lightning strike.
But an official of East Coast Railway told this newspaper that a branch of a tree fell on the overhead wires during a thunderstorm.
The incident took place in the border separating Bhadrak and Jajpur districts.
“Around 4.35pm, a large branch of a tree fell on the overhead wires. The pantograph was also damaged,” said Biswajit Sahu, spokesperson for East Coast Railway.
“A diesel engine was brought to the spot to take the train to the next station (Manjuri Road).... From there, the train will continue on its journey towards Howrah,” he said.
The train finally left at 8.17pm, an official said.
The windscreen of the train has been damaged, said an official.
Early on Sunday, the Puri-Howrah Superfast Express, headed to Howrah, suffered a scare when two coaches and the engine got separated from the rest of the train while it was in motion.
The incident took place near Nekurseni station in West Midnapore.
A railway official called it a case of decoupling.
The passengers of the affected coaches were accommodated on two coaches that were attached to the train.
Metro trains
Metro Railway will run special services next Sunday because of UPSC prelims.
On that day, 146 services will be run instead of 130 over the entire stretch of this corridor.
The first trains will leave New Garia and Dakhineswar at 7am. The last Dakshineswar-bound train will leave New Garia at 9.27pm.
The last New Garia-bound train will leave Dakshineswar at 9.28pm.