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Friday, July 24, 2015

when a Train ran backwards .... reverse gear in train ??


Indian Railways runs thousands of trains daily and millions travel daily – trains running in time catering to passengers do not make news and here is something on those aberrations !!... before that here is a trivia – there are Express Trains, Super Past, Passengers and Mails ….. understand that Mail trains originally were trains that actually carried bags of mail to be delivered between their termini or at intermediate stations, under special contracts with the Post Office.

In Apr 2009,  4 passengers were killed and 11 others injured when an “unidentified” person hijacked a suburban train and drove it at high speed, resulting in a head-on collision with a goods train hauling empty oil wagons at VyasarpadiJiva railway station.  In Apr 2011  Railway officials in Jammu & Kashmir were caught napping as a train from Qazigund in the Kashmir valley plied for over 20 kilometres without a driver, leading to an inquiry for action against officials on duty. The train stationed at Qazigund, started moving towards Anantnag without a driver at around 2.00am, official sources said. After traversing a distance of 20kms, the train came to a halt due to a steep gradient near Anantnag station, they said.

In July 2014, in a shocking incident, a Delhi metro train ran with all its left gates open between two stations on Thursday morning. It was reported in Indian Express that the gates remained open for close to a minute and 25 seconds.The incident took place on Yellow Line  trainbwtweenArjangarh to Ghitorni station at around 9:30 am.  DMRC was quoted as saying that it appeared to be an error by operator who reportedly was suspended.

DNA reported in Aug 2014, that the first double-decker train service between Mumbai and Goa got off to an inauspicious start after the driver of the train halted it at Roha for over an hour. The driver was slotted to pilot the train till Ratnagiri. The train was stranded at Roha for over an hour, the drama having started at 8:40pm. The train finally left for its destination at 9:50pm, by which it had affected the schedules of other trains.As passengers in the train fumed, an embarrassed Central Railway operations team had to send an SOS to Konkan Railways to send in a replacement driver, called 'reliever', in railway parlance.

In another reported instance in Oct 2014, Lucknow-Vindhyachal City Express moved a kilometre in reverse direction  on slanted railway track.  It was reported that the  passengers of the Lucknow- Vindhyachal Inter- City Express (14210) were in for a shock on Thursday when the train reached the Vindhyachal Railway Station around 2.25 pm.

As the train halted at the station, officials removed its engine to attach it to the other side. However, its 20 coaches started rolling down the slanted track towards Mirzapur before the officials could connect the engine to the other side of the train.  Fearing some untoward incident, several passengers, who boarded the Lucknow- bound train, jumped off the coaches and sustained severe injuries. The train finally came to a halt only after it travelled for around one kilometer without the engine.  The fear was more as three days earlier two trains had collided in Gorakhpur, killing 14 passengers and leaving 45 injured. That accident  happened when Krishak Express that was going from Varanasi to Gorakhpur hit Baraunibound train from behind at a place near Gorakhpur.

Notwithstanding incidents of a like nature, Indian Railways with such a vast network, is generally efficient.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
24th July 2015.


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