Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday waved at passengers and crew and prayed for their safe journey, as services resumed following repair of the damaged tracks on both the up and down lines, 51 hours after the horrific triple train accident in Balasore left 275 dead and more than 1,000 injured. Speaking to ANI on Sunday, the Railways minister said work on reconstruction of the damaged tracks started soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent out instructions to that effect.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his advice and instructions on the restoration of the railway tracks. The whole team (involved in the restoration work) laboured diligently and systematically to fix the damaged rails for the resumption of services," he said. The Railways minister added both the lines were reconstucted and tested before services resumed, 51 hours after the chilling derailment incident.