Close call: Glitch sent express train in direction of waiting Rajdhani

The incident took place near the Tilak Bridge station around noon Sunday when the Guwahati Rajdhani Express,approaching New Delhi,and the Kashi Vishwanath Express,which had set out for Varanasi,were crossing each other,initially on parallel tracks.

The Rajdhani was stationed near Point 80 due to track failure when workmen at the site spotted the Kashi Vishwanath moving onto the crossover tracks — this would have taken it to the same tracks as the Rajdhani.

Two keymen,who were working at the site,raised the alarm and planted red flags in front of both trains. The Kashi Vishwanath stopped just a little over 250m away from the Rajdhani. It was later reversed and pulled onto the main track.

Railways officials said they were aware of a technical fault near the crossover tracks and the driver of Kashi Vishwanath had also been informed about it. The officials claimed the trains was being piloted and,therefore,there could not have been a collision.

“This was a technical failure. But there was no safety hazard. Both the trains were being piloted with officials deployed with flags,” said Ashwani Lohani,Divisional Railway Manager,Northern Railway.

But workmen at the site said the drivers of the two trains were unaware of the danger and stopped only when they saw the red flags.

“We were working on the tracks when we saw the Kashi Vishwanath Express move onto the crossover tracks and head towards the stationary Rajdhani. On our own initiative,we quickly planted red flags in front of the trains. I was near the Kashi Vishwanath Express and tried stopping it while another keyman,Raj Kumar,planted a flag in front of the Rajdhani Express,” said keyman Ramachandran (40).

A Railway spokesperson said that the trains were stopped around 400 metres apart. He said an automatic signalling system was in place to prevent a situation of two trains coming onto the same tracks. The Sunday incident,he said,was due to a technical failure.

Sources said an inquiry had been ordered into the incident. Lohani said the technical failure of the “point” was being investigated.