CHANDIGARH: The Indian Railways on Monday suspended six officials and ordered a high-level inquiry after a goods train ran on the tracks driverless for about 70 kilometres at 100 km per hour from Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and crossed five stations before it was stopped near Unchi Bassi railway station in Punjab, a senior official said.
A team of senior railway officers visited the Kathua railway station to investigate the matter and they will submit their report to higher authorities, Divisional Railway Manager of Ferozepur Division, Sanjay Sahu said.
“The six officials who were suspended included the station master, traffic master and point man of Kathua, and loco pilot, assistant loco pilot and loco inspector of the train,” Sahu said. “The committee will submit a detailed report after looking into the reasons behind the negligence. On the basis of the report, further action will be taken,” the DRM said.
Sahu said initial probe showed the loco pilot and assistant loco pilot left the train unattended as the crew was to change at Kathua station. “It was a diesel locomotive but even the engine was not operational before the train start moving.
The train began moving because of the steep slope at the station due to which it gained enough momentum to travel several kilometres. The inquiry committee will look into the reasons behind how the train kept moving at such a high speed even as the engines were not operational,” he said.
The train came to a halt near Unchi Bassi due to a steep gradient, after covering a distance of more than 70 km. The good train was carrying materiel for the railways, Sahu said.
The official said that a few passenger trains were delayed due to the tracks being cleared for the runaway train. The railway staff placed stones and wooden blocks on the tracks to try to slow the goods train down, but it was eventually an uphill gradient and some sand bags that were strategically placed near Unchi Bassi railway station that helped in halting the train.
“We were waiting for the speed to come down as we were ready to derail the train at a secluded place. The train lost momentum as we put hindrances, including sand, stones and wooden blocks, on the track at many places before we managed to stop it near Ucchi Bassi,” Sahu said. The DRM said the aim was to avoid any tragedy so all precautions were taken and emergency services activated.