Two excavators and more than 300 labourers have been deployed to clear the track between Chiplun and Kamathe stations where 12 wagons of a goods train were derailed on Tuesday.

A press release by the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd said here on Wednesday that senior officials of Konkan Railway are at the site round the clock for effecting an early restoration.

Konkan Railway is carrying out restoration work on a war footing, it said. The work is being monitored continuously from the central control room at Belapur through remote cameras.

While one accident relief train belonging to Konkan Railway was deployed for restoration work on Tuesday, another from Central Railway was also called.

The railway track of around 160 metres is severely damaged as a result of the derailment.

While clearing the track, first all the wagons had to be unloaded and also ensure safe and secure stacking of the wheat bags. Konkan Railway said that there were about 15,000 bags of wheat weighing around 750 tonnes in the derailed wagons.

Since the track was damaged and uprooted, Konkan Railway had to lay the railway track first and then take the crane ahead to remove the first derailed wagon and then repeat the procedure.

The release said that there is no direct road access to the site for easy transportation of the restoration material. Konkan Railway had to carry the material to the nearest location and then move it manually through labourers.

The derailment had occurred in between two bridges and two of the derailed wagons were on the bridge. This needed to be tackled very cautiously to avoid any damage to the structure of the bridge.

The steep and high embankment on either side also made it difficult to tackle the derailed wagons, it added.

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