Indian Railways Santragachi-Pune AC special train escapes accident due to alert driver

Indian Railways trains had a fortuitous escape yesterday in the early hours. An iron rod was kept on the tracks between Vasind and Asangaon railway station on April 9. The Santragachi-Pune AC special train driver Bimal Chawda spotted the rod at 1.37 am and immediately alerted the control. The motorman got down of the train, picked the rod and alerted the motorman of the train coming from the opposite direction. “We have filed an FIR through GRP. We are inspecting different sections and patrolling them,” said SK Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, Central Railway.

It may be noted that Central Railways’ (CR) suburban section is just months away from getting fully-functional escalators installed on every station, as was proposed in the budget in February. 

The Central Railways has already started work for 214 escalators. As many 40 escalators will be ready by June this year under the first phase. All these safety related measures are being taken in the wake of stampede at Elphinstone Road on September 29, claiming atleast 27 lives.

Meanwhile, authorities will reportedly go ahead with preparatory work during monsoon at several railway stations on Mumbai suburban section between CSMT-Kalyan/Panvel stations for the escalators. The Railway officials stated to complete work on 214 escalators by March 2019.

Source DNA