BHUBANESWAR: Secunderabad-bound Visakha Express had a close shave after some of its coaches got separated from the engine while it was leaving Balugaon railway station in Khurda district of the state on Saturday.
Sources said the engine of the Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad Express train moved with only AC coaches leaving behind all other bogies. A major mishap averted as the loco pilot stopped the train after he noticed a drop in the pressure required to pull bogies.
“We arrived at Balugaon nearly 25 minutes late. The train rolled with only AC coaches as other bogies were left behind. For a moment we could not understand anything, but it was scary. Had the coaches been decoupled while on the move, it would have been disastrous,” said a passenger, who was travelling in a sleeper class coach.
Though the glitches in the coupling arrangement led to the detachment of coaches, the incident has once again brought to fore the lack of attention of the railway staff entrusted with the safety of passengers.
Railway authorities, however, claimed that none of the passengers were injured in the incident. The coaches were separated due to a defect in a particular locking arrangement joining two coaches, they said.
“Visakha Express arrived Balugaon at 10.21 am. After two minutes loco pilot informed that pressure is being dropped to pull train. On checking, it was found that train was separated between AC-2 tier and S-1 coach, eighth from engine. It was recoupled and the train started at 11 am,” said a spokesperson of East Coast Railway.
The train was once again checked at 11.10 am between Balugaon and Chilika by coach maintenance staff and left the spot at 11.42 am. The escorting coach repairing staff again checked the train at Berhampur and no defect was found.
In another incident, passengers of Digha-Vishakhapatnam Express had a harrowing time after cracks were detected in railway tracks near Tilaru station in Andhra Pradesh. An alert railway staff stopped the Vizag bound Digha Express and it was allowed to move after nearly one and half hours following necessary repair works.