Bhubaneswar: Hundreds of passengers of the Puri-Cuttack Passenger were left confused after the train left behind four coaches from Puri station on Tuesday morning.

However, the East Coast Railway clarified that the train advanced few metres after one coach, fourth from the rear was found unfit for journey.

Passengers said the train was supposed to leave Puri station at 8am, and they had already occupied their seats. "But few minutes after, we found the train leaving the station without the four coaches. The engine with rest of the coaches returned after 20 minutes. The railway staff members also did not give us satisfactory explanation about the incident," said Santosh Mohapatra, a passenger.

On the other hand, railway officials said that as the fourth coach from the rear was unfit, it needed to the detached. "The team inspecting the coaches found the coach unfit few minutes before the start of the journey. So, the rear most three coaches had to be detached first to detach the unfit coach. The fourth coach was detached on another line and then the three rear-most coaches were again attached to the train. The train finally departed from Puri at 8.20am without the unfit coach," said a press note of railway.

However, railway officials admitted that the unfit coach should have been detached before the train was brought to the platform. "The staff members entrusted with the job of maintenance of coaches in the washing line should have noticed the fault in the unfit coach. Delay of 25 minutes could have been avoided had they detached the coach before bringing it to the platform," said a railway official.

On April 7, 22 bogies of Puri-bound Ahmedabad-Puri express ran for over 15km and around 30 minutes without engine at Titilagarh station in Balangir district. Hundreds of passengers had a narrow escape after the train came to a halt on reaching an uphill slope near Kesinga railway station.