Margao, May 4 (TOI): Train services on Margao and further southward on the Konkan Railway route were hit for nearly 18 hours affecting hundreds of passengers in holiday season as 10 coaches of the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Ernakulam Duronto Express went off the tracks at the Sarzora tunnel near Balli railway station, about 12km from Margao, at around 6.20am on Sunday.

None of the 730 passengers on board the train were injured, save for minor bruises that were attended to by railway medical teams.

Railway sources said the derailment had not affected the tunnel. The train had started from Mumbai on Saturday. Most passengers were transported by another train to the Karwar railway station.

Sources said the train had left Margao railway station at 6.15am. The 13-coach train had entered about 100m of the 600m long tunnel when the accident took place.

On realizing that some coaches were going off-track, the driver of the train, which was running at 100 km an hour, applied the brakes. A senior Konkan Railway official said had he continued the journey for a few hundred metres more, a couple of coaches could have overturned, leading to casualties.

As the tunnel is located in an area that is quite a distance away from habitation, it was some time before locals came to know about the accident. Once the word spread, villagers went to the site to help the passengers.

The accident threw Konkan Railway traffic out of gear for at least four hours. Scores of passengers were stranded at various stations along the route, with several trains being cancelled, partially cancelled, diverted and short-terminated.

Sanjay Gupta, director (operating & commercial), who was supervising the repair and restoration work at the Sarzora tunnel, along with principal chief engineer Rajesh Agarwal, told TOI that around 200 workers were engaged in the task. He said technicians were working round-the-clock to lift the 10 derailed coaches back on the tracks. Gupta said the entire repair operation was expected to be completed by midnight, following which all the trains on the Konkan Railway route would resume their journey as per schedule.

Around 250m stretch of the track near the tunnel was found to be damaged. Konkan Railway chief spokesperson Vaishali Patange said an inquiry had been instituted to ascertain the cause of the accident.

"Konkan Railway arranged for five buses for transshipment of passengers and paid Rs 2,56,255 in refund (as at 5pm) to passengers who did not wish to continue their journey by train," a press note by Konkan Railway said. "Though partial refund is admissible for the remaining part of the journey which has been cancelled, KRCL as a special gesture, permitted a full refund of the fare to the passengers." Sources said nine KTC buses to Mangalore and six to Karwar altogether ferried 500 passengers.

Usha Rao, a resident of Mangalore, who was travelling back by the Nizamudddin-Ernakulam train with her family of 22 members, praised the arrangements made by the Goa government. "We recently had a harrowing experience in north India, where we were stranded for hours together and the authorities hardly cared," Rao said. "Here, the government officials have been kind and cooperative. Also, announcements are made at regular intervals at the station giving updates about running of the trains."

Several passengers chose to make their own arrangements to get to their destinations. Like Nagraj Shetty from Udupi who hired a taxi to reach his home town.