It was Kumar, who first heard the twin blasts on the train and alerted the Assistant Station Master at Diwana railway station on phone. Once they got the message, officials at the station alerted both the driver and the guard on the train about the explosion and asked them to bring the train to a halt immediately.

"Hadn't Kumar acted swiftly, the train would have continued running with the possibilities of more coaches catching fire," a railway official at Diwana railway station said. "One can imagine how big the fire was considering the fact that both the coaches completely burned down and killed so many people in a distance of under 3 km and in just about 4 minutes between the blasts being heard and the train coming to a halt," he added.

"The train crossed Gate Number 47 at 11.53 pm. It appeared to be running at around 100 kmph. And since this train doesn't stop at our station, it almost goes unnoticed," Pawan Kumar told The Indian Express. "Within a minute of the train passing through my gate, I heard two blasts, one after the other. I immediately informed the Diwana railway station that I had heard some explosive sounds on the train," Kumar added.

Officials at Diwana rushed to the platform with a red signal and simultaneously talked to the driver and the guard on a walkie-takie. They also alerted the gatemen at Gates 48, 49 and 50. "At the speed at which the train was travelling, it could only come to a halt around 2.5 km beyond Diwana station near Gate Number 49," said Pointsman Badri Lal Meena adding that fire in the fourth and fifth coaches from the end could be seen as the train crossed Diwana station.

Ironically though, Pawan was probably the last one among the railway officials to get to know what actually had happened after the train had crossed his gate. "I am not allowed to leave my gate at any cost," he said. It was only after his 12-hour long shift ended at 8 am that Kumar went to the site where the two burnt coaches had been stationed along with the three coaches which were detached from the rest of the train.