The engine and seven coaches of Tirunelveli -Pune Dadar Special train derailed at Vaalaikombu Naagoor between Pollachi and Meenakshipuram stations in the district, due to the weight of a 200 year old tree, which fell on the engine, last night.

However, there were no injuries to the passengers, as the tree fell on the engine, railway officials said today.

The driver noticed a tree coming down on the track at a distance of 200 metres and managed to apply brakes. But the tree fell on engine, which was dragged by the branches to some 250 metres, resulting in the engine and seven coaches going off the track, they said.

A crane and recovery van from Shoranur in Kerala was requisitioned and restoration operations began around midnight. Another engine was brought from Pollachi, which separated the 11 coaches on the track and sent to Pune to continue the journey.

Traffic was affected on Palani- Palakkad section and restoration work is being carried out on war footing.

Meanwhile, the engine and four coaches were brought on track late in the evening and efforts were on to re-rail the remaining three coaches, which will take another three hours, they said.

However, the train services will resume only after repairing the heavily damaged track due to the dragging of almost half of the train.