KALABURAGI:Senior officials of South Central Railway’s Solapur division commenced a departmental inquiry into the incident of a railway engine rolling down for about 6 km from Wadi Railway Station towards Nalwar Railway Station on Wednesday without a loco pilot.
Official sources said that a team of three senior officers of South Central Railway (Solapur Division) which arrived at Wadi on Thursday, started the inquiry into the incident.The team of senior officers visited different sections of Wadi railway station and questioned seven officials.It asked whether there was a hand brake in the railway engine which rolled down and whether it was applied on the day of incident. They also asked whether the stopper was applied to the wheels of the engine when it was parked at the railway station.
According to the information available, the inquiry team questioned four station masters, two loco pilots and one point man. After the preliminary inquiry, it decided to suspend three station masters including local station master Santosh Tare. The inquiry is ongoing.It may be recalled that the engine of an electric train moved about 6 km without a loco pilot from Wadi railway Station on Wednesday.
The incident occurred when the Chennai-Mumbai train arrived at Wadi Railway Junction around 3 pm and was halted for a diesel engine to be attached to the coaches as the route from Wadi to Solapur in Maharashtra was not electrified.But due to a slip-up, the electric engine started moving after the loco pilot alighted from it.
Immediately, Wadi railway station authorities alerted the next few stations including Nalwar Railway Station to clear the tracks. To prevent any untoward incidents, trains coming from the opposite directions were stopped. The engine was brought back after an hour of the incident.