Howrah: The engine of Ispat Express and the coach next to it derailed at Howrah station on Thursday morning, stalling service from three platforms for more than six hours during morning rush hours.

The train, headed to Titlagarh in Odisha's Balangir district, was on its way from the car shed to platform 23 of the new complex of Howrah station when the rear engine and the luggage compartment derailed around 6am.

"There were no injuries," a railway official said.

The engine and the affected coach were detached from the rest of the train for repair. It took around six hours to fix the snag. Train operations remained suspended on platforms 21, 22 and 23 for the duration. Thousands of passengers were left stranded.

The train finally left Howrah around noon, instead of 6.55am.

The Puri-bound Dhauli Express, scheduled to leave from platform 21 at 6am, was also delayed by six hours.

Swati Chatterjee, who lives in Sodepur and runs an NGO for kids, had booked three tickets to Jhargram, where she and her team were to conduct a workshop in a primary school.

"We boarded the train and took our seats. There was no way to know about the derailment," said Swati, 43. Around half an hour later, she saw a man walking across the platform and telling passengers inside the train about the snag. "But no one knew when the train would leave."

Swati received an SMS around 8.45am, informing her that the train would leave at 10am. Since the workshop was to start at 11am and there was no way she would reach before that, Swati cancelled her travel plan.

Several other passengers also alleged there were no announcements on the platforms.

Sagar Moulik, 46, was to travel to Bhubaneswar by Dhauli Express. "The train left after noon. For the first hour, we had no clue what was happening," said the businessman from Lake Town.

Several long-distance trains to Howrah were short- terminated at Santragachhi to avoid congestion at Howrah. These included the Jnaneswari Express from Mumbai, Mumbai Mail, Jagannath Express from Puri and Sambalpur Express from Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh. Four local trains had to be cancelled.

The railways have initiated a probe into the derailment. "Prima facie, it seems that a problem in a crossing point led to the derailment," said a senior official of Howrah division.

The tracks under Chandmari bridge, where the accident occurred, are congested and prone to derailment, the official said. "There is hardly any space between the lines, leading to sharp curves at crossing points. Negotiating the curves could be difficult, even for slow-moving trains," he said.