New Delhi: A major train accident was averted as Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express narrowly avoided a collision with a tractor-loaded with diesel barrels, which had got stuck on the tracks close to a manned-railway crossing near Santaldih station, in West Bengal‘s Purulia district, the IANS reported on Wednesday.
“A tractor crashed the railway gate when it was closing at the Santhaldih railway crossing. However, the driver of the train noticed the tractor from a distance and he immediately slowed down the speed of the train, averting any major accident,” Manish Kumar, DRM, Adra Division, South Eastern Railway, told the media.
Since Santaldih station was not a scheduled stop, the Bhubaneswar-bound train was at a high speed. However, the sides of two compartments behind the engine somehow brushed past the body of the tractor.
Reports further said that the gateman allegedly failed to lower the crossing gate promptly upon receiving information about the approaching train and the tractor also attempted to cross the tracks while the gate was in motion.
The incident occurred around 5 pm on Tuesday and the train was delayed by about 45 minutes. The gate man has been suspended and an FIR lodged at the police station concerned.
The incident occurred barely days after one of the worst train tragedies in the country at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore district, involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train, in which 288 were killed and more than 1,100 injured.
