New Delhi: Another rail tragedy was averted on Tuesday night. The Madgaon-Dadar Janshatabdi escaped derailment after the engine driver managed to bring the train to a halt just short of a 380kg iron pillar lying across the tracks. The train was carrying 650 passengers.
The latest incident lends credence to official claims of terrorist sabotage behind some of the recent accidents—in the last two months there have been four major rail accidents.
While the incident has put the railways on edge, a case has been registered under Section 150-A of the Indian Railways Act. Senior railway officials, on condition of anonymity, said “The assistant pilot showed great presence of mind and applied the brakes on time. The obstacle was placed with the intention of causing a loss of lives and great damage. We are probing the matter.”
Avoiding what would otherwise have been the second big rail tragedy this week, following the derailment of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneshwar Hirakhand Express near Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district that killed 41 people, officials are exploring the possibility of the involvement of terrorists.
