Gouranga Das from Guptipara was in a mad rush to know the whereabouts of his elder brother Barun Das, who had boarded the Mumbai-bound train from Howrah yesterday. He himself was travelling in a train when he learnt about the Howrah-Mumbai CSMT train getting derailed. Not wasting time, he returned from Ranchi and rushed to Howrah station to find out about his brother. Spending hours in agony over the whereabouts of his brother who was headed to Mumbai for trade purposes, Gouranga heaved a sigh of relief after learning that his elder brother’s name was not included in the list of injured persons. He was relieved to some extent following the communication that his brother was fine but his worries kept bothering him unless he would see or talk to him personally.

Asit Maity and his wife were yet to begin their day, when they received a phone call at around 5am from their nephew about the accident. The couple from Pursura was spotted at Howrah station looking for the details of his nephew Tuhin. His nephew travelling in the Howrah-Mumbai Mail had informed his maternal uncle over the phone about the accident and about his injuries as well. Tuhin was headed for work to Mumbai and had boarded the train yesterday. Tuhin informed his family about getting minor injuries on his leg and hands and had received treatment.

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There was chaos and agony at Howrah station today. Family and kin of the passengers of the 12810 Howrah-CSMT Mumbai Mail that got derailed after colliding sideways with another derailed freight train, stood before the help desks at Howrah enquiring about their loved ones who were passengers of the train that met with an accident in the wee hours today.

To address the queries of the passengers’ families, the railways set up help desks at platform number 17 and 21 of Howrah station and opened help booths at Shalimar, Kharagpur and Santragachi station.

The South Eastern Railway also made arrangements for a special bus service for the transportation of passengers from the spot of derailment. In addition, stranded passengers were carried to Chakradharpur station by a relief train. Another 02810 Chakradharpur-CSMT Mumbai Special (Relief) train left for Mumbai with the remaining passengers at around 10am.

The accident resulted in the cancellation of numerous trains on the route. As per the information received from the SER till 7pm, 62 trains were cancelled while 28 more were diverted. Work on making the route operational at the earliest was being carried out at war footing.