Train brushes past truck: 4 WR staffers suspended, lorry driver booked

The dumper of a contractual agency, which was parked after crossing the rail tracks, brushed against the Bandra-Amritsar Paschim Express special train. (Right) No one was injured in the incident, the second time in two days that something similar had happ

In a freak mishap on the Western Railway section in Mumbai, the second one in two days, the Bandra-Amritsar Paschim Express special train hit a contractor-s lorry parked close to the railway tracks, near Kandivli. A similar incident involving a lorry and a local train had happened on Saturday. Western Railway officials had said after the Saturday incident that they would be careful about such incidents in the future and ironically, a similar mishap occurred on Monday.

A WR spokesperson said that the incident occurred around 12:38 pm and the train was detained till 1:28 pm. There were no casualties or injuries, but WR has suspended four people and said they will institute an inquiry into the matter.

The incident
The incident occurred when the dumper of a contractual agency, which was parked after crossing the rail tracks, brushed against the train. "The lorry was parked too close to the running train," a divisional official said.

Mumbai: Bandra Amritsar Special Train Rams Into Parked Lorry Near Kandivli Station

Western Railway-s Chief Public Relations Officer Sumit Thakur said, "The locomotive was changed at Borivli and the train left from there at 2:35 pm. The truck driver has been apprehended and the vehicle has been seized. Necessary action will be initiated against the concerned departmental staff. An inquiry by a junior administrative grade level officer has also been ordered."

Four suspended
The WR said while they had suspended four people, including Kandivli station superintendents B V Samant and Vinod Dalvi, pointsman Bharat Solanki and traffic inspector M S Shaikh, a case had been registered against the 57-year-old driver of the truck, Prakash Sambhali Thoke. Western Railway Mumbai Divisional Railway Manager G V L Satya Kumar, alongwith other senior officials, visited the spot.

On Saturday, a lorry belonging to another contractor had come too close to a suburban train near Jogeshwari and an alert motorman had stopped the train in the nick of time.

-Pure negligence-
"Two similar incidents in a gap of just two days means something is wrong with the functioning and safety protocols are not being followed on the ground. They seem to be playing with passengers- lives. This needs active attention and involvement from officials who mostly are locked in their air-conditioned cabins with no ground touch," a zonal railway users consultative committee member said.

A retired railway engineer said that this amounted to pure negligence as a road vehicle on a project work is never supposed to come so close to a working line. "This means they were working without taking an appropriate block or those who allowed the lorry to be in that zone, were not aware that the line was in active use. Thankfully, no passengers were hurt," he added.

Four
No. of Western Railway staffers suspended

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