BHUBANESWAR: IF derailments of two trains in the last five days were not bad news enough for the Railways, the Puri-Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Express headed on the wrong route late on Tuesday night causing more embarrassment.
The East Coast Railway (ECoR) placed the Station Master of Machapur under suspension on Wednesday. The incident occurred between Machapur and Radhakishore stations a little after mid-night. The ECoR sources said the Express train left Cuttack at 11.45 pm and passed through Gurudijhatia at 12.22 am. It reached Machapur on the Down line seven minutes later. However, it is at Machapur that the goof-up took place since it is a junction with one route heading towards Raj Athagarh and another towards Radhakishorepur.
Instead of signaling the train towards Raj Athagarh, the Station Master gave line clearance towards Radhakishorepur where it arrived at 12.38 pm on the Up line instead of going to Raj Athagarh (RJGR) on Down line.
However, the alert guard of the train spotted the problem and intimated the Chief Controller in Control Room at 12.35 pm over mobile phone. The Control Room then advised the train to reverse the engine at Radhakishorepur and head back towards Raj Athagarh taking the normal route.
The train returned and crossed Raj Athagarh at 1.55 am which resulted in a delay of 2.05-hour in reaching Angul before it reached Lakholi station under South East Central Railway recording a delay of 1.44-hour, thereby losing punctuality.
The ECoR officially accepted that it was an “operational mistake” and said the matter has been viewed seriously. Machapur Station Master Chandrabhanu Samal was placed under suspension and a detailed inquiry ordered.
“It was neither a safety issue nor a case of unsafe situation. The train passed on signal all through as result of which no unsafe scenario occurred. It is a case of wrong operation on a route not scheduled for train operation and loss of punctuality of an Express train. The case has been viewed strongly and final action will be taken in a day or two,” Chief Public Relations Officer J P Mishra said.