The engine of the train dashed against the debris burying a section of the track between Kilometer number 115/1 and 115/2 on the Up line around 8.45, shortly after the train passed the Monkey Hill signal cabin. Three wheels of the engine slipped off the track due to the impact of the dash.

Though nobody was injured, the passengers of the Deccan Queen found themselves stranded for nearly eight hours till the railway authorities made arrangements to carry them in Pune-Karjat passenger train.

Nearly 300 of the stranded passengers chose to trek the eight kilometers back to Monkey Hill with their luggage, since repairs and alternative transport was not provided for nearly two hours after the incident.

Shyam Sahani, a social workerfrom Pune Cantonment area who was travelling to Mumbai said, ``I made many calls on my mobile to ask for help, but when I realised it would take very long, I decided to walk back. Finally I and a few others hiked back to the Monkey Hill and hopped on to the Pune-bound Udyan Express to return. We had to borrow lanterns from the railway staff to walk through the tunnels.''

Sahani said that the idea to walk back was mooted by a few ladies from the second-class compartment behind the engine, who were the first to see the extent of damage and realise that they would be stranded for very long. However, a large number of passengers who chose not to return had to wait at the Monkey Hill Railway Station for eight hours, till the railway authorities accommodated them in the Pune-Karjat passenger.

According to GRP officials, they had to take Mumbai-bound local trains after the passenger train reach Karjat station only around 4.50 pm. The Nagnath Line remained closed for traffic till late evening as the work ofshifting the derailed engine and clearing the track went on. However, rail traffic on Mumbai-Pune section by and large remained unaffected, thanks to the other two lines in the ghat section.

The landslide, which caused the mishap, had taken place sometime early morning. However, the railway, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the General Railway Police (GRP) could not receive information about it in time due to the lack of communication network in the ghat section, the GRP officials in Pune said. According to PSI Dattatraya Wabale from GRP Control Room at Pune, the tip off about the mishap came only when some of the train passengers hiked to the Monkey Hills Railway Station.

GRP officials in Pune came to know about the incident around 10 am after the control room of RPF in Mumbai broadcast a wireless message to them saying that the Deccan Queen had met with an accident in the ghat section.

Alarmed, the GRP control room in Pune asked the in-charge of the Karjat Railway Police Station to visit the spotand verify the information. Rescue arrangements were made after the GRP personnel from Karjat returned and reported the incident to the GRP control room in Pune, he added.