Priti Pathak
ANOTHER local train accident was averted on Friday morning near Parsik Tunnel, Mumbra, by an alert motorman of the Central Railway, Mumbai. The motorman is identified as R. P. Singh.
45-year-old R.P. Singh is a resident of Vaishnavi Park, Katemanivali, Kalyan (East). He is currently posted as motorman in Kalyan unit of the Central Railway. On November 7, 2014 around 9.10am he attended Karjat-CST (S-20) bound fast local train at Kalyan station. The actual time of train is 8.46am but train was late by 20 minutes.
Around 9.30am Singh reached near Parsik tunnel (Kilometer No-34/4) in Mumbra. He saw few people were pointing towards something like a go slow. Sensing trouble, Singh immediately applied emergency brakes and stopped the speedy (65 to70 kilometer per hours) train. There were more than 1,000 passengers in train.
Singh got down from the train and noticed a fracture on the railway tracks. He immediately informed Rail Control Room, CST about the incident. The Central Railway (CR) engineering staff reached to the spot within 20 minutes. They carried the repair works within 10 minutes (around 9.55am) and Singh started his journey towards CST.
“I smelt something fishy. I immediate applied emergency break. After securing to the passengers I got down and saw the fishplate was open. There was a major possibility of derailment. I informed the control room,” said Singh.
As a result, of this incident, fast local train services of the Central Railway were affected, and trains were delayed, but a major accident was averted.
Thanking Singh on Friday, the members of Vaishnavi Park Co-operative Housing Society felicitated him. Brahmadev Dubey, Sanjay Tiwari, Arun Tiwari, Girish Pandey and Anil Mishra presented bouquets to Singh.
ABI (abinet.org) also appreciates and thanks Singh for this act of alertness.