The loco of the Tourist Special train that was running between New Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar Junction decoupled from coaches at the entry point of the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday morning.
The engine that moved around 50 meters ahead on the tracks was brought back and attached to the train by railway engineers within half an hour.
The train is popular among tourists and nature enthusiasts as it has a vistadome coach, which provides an enthralling view of pristine forests, lush green tea estates, rivers and hills in the Dooars.
The loco was severed from the LHB coaches around 8.50am when the train crossed the Gulma station, which is between Siliguri Junction and Sevoke stations.
When the train came to a sudden halt near pillar number 14/6 near the Mahananda forest, some passengers felt that an elephant or some other wild animal might have come on the tracks and hence, the driver pulled the brake.
But the travellers soon realised that the loco had been detached and had moved around 50 metres ahead.
“The coupling between the engine and the rake was somehow damaged, which led to the incident. It was shocking. Fortunately, there was no derailment. We had taken the train to enjoy a ride in the vistadome coach. When the railways are charging extra money for the ride, they should also ensure the safety of passengers,” said Biswajit Modak, a doctor from Kalna in Burdwan. He had come to the Dooars for a trip with his family.
The train had three chair cars, a vistadome coach, an SLR compartment and one generator bogie.
Debarshi Sarkar of Cooch Behar was in the second coach from the engine. “I was surprised to see that the engine was standing much ahead. We are fortunate that the train was not at high speed or else, there was a risk of derailment,” he said.
Railway officials and engineers arrived, brought the loco back and attached it to the rake.
Eventually, the train left for Sevoke station after half an hour. The train reached Alipurduar Junction at 1.30pm, 30 minutes behind schedule.
Amarjit Gautam, the Alipurduar divisional railway manager, said: “It was a technical fault. We are conducting an inquiry to find out what actually happened.”
Railway sources said the coupling between the loco and rakes had been damaged and somehow got severed.
In the past three months, this is the third such incident that has occurred in the Alipurduar division of the Northeast Frontier Railway.
On June 3, a train with 17 empty LHB coaches was approaching Fakiragram station when the locomotive detached. The following day, the loco of a goods train severed from the rake while it was crossing the Altagram station.
