Above we have the map of (Indian Railways) South-Western Zone. The original route was along the west coast (Konkan Railway shown in green). Instead the train got diverted to Pune (top left corner in yellow zone). At that point it should have moved directly south to Miraj and from thereon turn west to reach Goa. Instead it traveled south-east (right-wards in the map) to Solapur and then on to Gulbarga, a few hundred km on the wrong track.
Not a single official noticed (the passengers eventually did). BTW Udupi is a town on the west coast near Mangalore.
Passengers
of the Okha-Ernakulam express from Gujarat to Kerala were stunned when
they saw that their train had reached Gulbarga station in Karnataka on
Tuesday.
The train was on track till 10.30pm on Monday but
passengers were alerted at Punwale that due to an accident near
Ratnagiri, the train would be diverted towards Pune and then it would
reach Wadgaum in Goa via Miraj. But at Pune, the train was mistakenly
diverted to Solapur and then to Gulbarga.
Passengers were
shocked early morning when they saw their train at Solapur station at
6am. They informed the station master at Solapur and were told the train
would be diverted at Guntakal to Hubli….
..
The train reached Gulbarga at 11.30am and
was parked 1km from the station and later taken to the station.
..Keerthan, a passenger
on the train who was supposed to reach Udupi at 11am Tuesday, got down
at Gulbarga and took a bus to reach his destination. He said almost 30
passengers in the bus he was traveling, were passengers from the
mis-routed train.
…..
regards