There were chances, however, that one track would be made operational by early Friday morning, authorities said.

Because of the derailment, practically all trains on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route and the Mumbai-Delhi route were either diverted to other routes or cancelled. All trains that had not been cancelled were running more than four hours late, authorities here said. The exact reason for the derailment, which occurred around 5 a.m., is yet to be ascertained by the authorities. The cement-laden goods train (CB 496), which left Vadodara on Wednesday night, was headed for Jogeshwari in Mumbai. Apart from the tracks being uprooted, the derailed wagons were extensively damaged. No loss of life or injury was reported.

As a replacement arrangement, a number of trains have been running between Ahmedabad and Navsari and back and between Mumbai and Valsad. The rail and State Road Transport authorities made available extra buses between Surat and Valsad, from where all rail traffic ran undisturbed.

The Surat-Bhusawal route, too, was open, thus allowing the long-distance Ahmedabad-Howrah Express and Navjeevan Express to run without delay.

Until Thursday evening, 18 trains on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route were either cancelled or were running late. The Mumbai-bound Flying Ranee, Sayaji Express, Karnavati Express, Shatabdi Express, Firozpur Janata Express, Surashtra Express, Jammu-Tawi Express, Viramgam Passenger, Virar Bharuch Shuttle, Gujarat Express and other trains were either diverted and running late or cancelled, station manager D G Solanki said.