NAGAPATTINAM:When the 48 compartments of a goods train got disconnected, an unaware loco pilot ended up reaching the Nagapattinam railway station with 12 bogies of the coal-laden train on Thursday.
According to sources, the 48 compartments were disconnected from the goods train which carried coal from the Karaikal private port while the train was on its way in Ariyanattu Street near Nagapattinam.
The loco pilot drove the goods train without knowing realising about the other coaches till he reached Nagapattinam railway station.
Speaking to Express, a Railways official in Nagapattinam said, “The goods train started from Karaikal private port with 60 compartments filled with coal. Due to the weak connector, the 13th compartment got detached from the train on Thursday morning near Ariyanattu Street which is about two kilometres away from Nagapattinam Junction. Since the loco pilot did know about this, the train chugged along with the 12 compartments and reached Nagapattinam Junction,” he said.
Since, the Nagapattinam-Karaikal railway line has a single track, the engine which reached Nagapattinam Junction was unable to get back to carry along the remaining 48 compartments. Therefore, one loco engine was taken from Karaikal and the officials tried to connect that with the 48th compartment which stood there in Velipalayam which is about 10 km away from Nagapattinam Junction.
When the efforts for connecting the engine with the 48th compartment failed, the railway officials decided to push those compartments with that engine that was brought there towards the Nagapattinam Junction. With that move, the engine pushed the compartments to the railway station and the compartments were connected again.