Kudos to Indian Railways crew for saving several passengers’ lives; here’s what happened

Indian Railways crew saves several lives! Recently, Loco Pilot, Assistant Loco Pilot and Guard of the Train Number 01134 Mangaluru Junction-Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus displayed courage and exemplary presence of mind in taking swift action to save several passengers. According to a statement by South Western Railways, on 23 July 2021, at around 6:10 AM, while driving this train’s engine from Kulem towards Castle Rock near Dudhsagar-Sonaulim section, Loco Pilot Ranjeet Kumar observed that due to recent continuous heavy rainfall, the mud was slipping ahead on the rail track from the hill’s sidewalls beside the rail track. To prevent any mishap, he applied emergency brakes immediately and brought the moving train to a stop. Despite the immediate braking, the engine got derailed along with two set of wheels due to mud and soil mixed boulders on the track.

The Loco Pilot then informed Dudhsagar’s Station Master about the same, to give message to Control Office in Hubballi. Upon noticing the applied emergency brake, train Guard Shailder Kumar applied hand brakes to the Brake Van, which is located rear most of the train and then proceeded to the engine. Parallelly, the Assistant Loco Pilots of the leading and banking engines were instructed by the Guard and Loco Pilot to place detonators at stipulated distance on the rail track at both front and rear, as well as also secure the train by tying chains to the railway track, placing wheel-skids, etc., as per the national transporter’s standard safety protocol.

Shailender and Ranjeet saw that mud and slush were also falling from the steep cutting of the hill beside the track on the coaches immediately rear to the front engine. To ensure passengers’ safety, they shifted the travellers from the first three coaches of the train to the rear coaches, as well as un-coupled these coaches from the rest of the train. The Indian Railways crew took instruction from Hubballi Divisional Control Office and used the rear engine to pull the train back to Kulem railway station with as many as 345 passengers.

Shailender accompanied along with Loco Pilot SD Meena, Assistant Loco Pilot SK Saini to safely take the train to Kulem with passengers, while Ranjeet and his Assistant Hashid K stayed back near to assist in restoration. For displaying courage and taking swift action, South Western Railways’ GM had appreciated the crew and also announced a cash reward as a sign of encouragement.