CHENNAI: In a freak accident, a set of goods wagons started moving on their own from the ballast yard at Ambattur railway station on Tuesday, hit a container weighing bridge which in turn fell on a 70-year-old man sitting nearby killing him on the spot.
Around 9.25 am, workers were loading ballast in goods wagons at the yard. Seven wagons moved back automatically for about 200 metres. They derailed and hit the electronic in-motion weighbridge (EIMWB) at the dead end of track number seven. The impact caused the weighbridge to break off and fall on an elderly man who was sitting beneath it, crushing him on the spot. A five-foot wall around the electronic weighbridge was also demolished completely.
The deceased was identified as S Mani of Indira Nagar, Ambattur. He was known to have suffered from elephantiasis. When the mishap occurred, he was sitting with his family members at the end of Ambattur railway station on the Old Madras-Tiruvallur High (MTH) road. His family members were platform vendors. According to rail passengers and locals, on hearing a big noise after the wagons derailed, his relatives ran from the spot, while Mani came under the weighbridge.
Bigger disaster averted by sheer luck, says eyewitness
Ambattur station has seven tracks passing in the Tiruvallur -Chennai section. While six tracks pass through the level crossing gates on the Old MTH road, the seventh line which connects with the ballast yard terminated 40 metres ahead of the weighbridge towards the Chennai line near the level-crossing gate.
K Raju, a fruit shop worker who witnessed the incident, said that around 9.25 am, an idle rake of the express train was parked at the 6th line, while the seventh line stops ahead of the weighing machine.
“I saw the goods coach (brake van) moving. I was about to raise an alarm. Before I could realise there was no track near the bridge, the wagons hit the container weighing machine and fell on the man,” he said. Krishna Kumar, a regular commuter, said it was sheer luck that saved passengers who regularly cross the level-crossing gate at Ambattur.
However, Southern Railway officials maintained that a top official had been appointed to inquire into the incident. Passenger train services were operated without any disruption. Express and suburban trains were operated at cautionary speed. The wagons were rerailed by 6 pm.