Pune: Solapur-bound passengers of derailed Vande Bharat Express spent anxious moments on a platform of Pune Junction till late in the night on Monday, as the railway authorities decided to send them to their destination in the rake of delayed Deccan Queen.Hemant Kumar Behera, the divisional commercial manager and the PRO of Pune railway division, said, “Passengers waiting to go to Solapur will be sent in Deccan Queen’s rake. It will take sometime before the train arrives because track restoration work is under way after the derailment of Vande Bharat Express.”The scheduled arrival time of Deccan Queen in Pune is 8.25pm. Till going to press, the train had not reached the city.Almost one-and-a-half hours after a part of C-15 coach of CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express (22225) derailed about 600 meters away from the platform, passengers came walking to platform number two (sharing with three) of Pune station. Some passengers sat on the platform, while a few took rest on the staircase of a foot overbridge. They were served food there. Mumbai’s Jamil Sayyed, travelling on C-6 coach of the train, said, “My daughter and I were going to Solapur. We kept sitting in the train till around 8.50pm. Railway officials then announced that Pune-bound passengers should disembark and those travelling to Solapur should remain seated.”“After some time, the officials said this train wouldn’t go and passengers going to Solapur should also disembark. It took us around half-an-hour to reach the platform. We have been told that a train will come in sometime for us,” Sayyad told TOI.
