An alert railway watchman averted a major tragedy on Tuesday morning after he noticed a gap in the tracks between Monkey Hill and Thakurwadi on the Mumbai Pune railway line.
Sunil Kumar was returning home after completing his duty, when he wide gap of 125mm on the down line around 9 a.m. He quickly alerted the driver of the incoming Mumbai Pune Intercity Express, who applied emergency brakes and brought the train to a halt.
“Mr. Kumar protected the track and stopped the train till staff arrived at the site,” A.K. Jain, senior public relations officer, Central Railway, said.
As the incident occured in a hilly terrain, staff reached only by 9.25 a.m.
After close inspection, a few repairs were done. Mr. Jain said that the track was declared safe at 9.45 a.m. No other train was delayed, as they were diverted to the middle line in the section, he added.
Suicide bid foiled
In another incident, a man, Narendra Kotekar’s (54) attempt at suicide was foiled by commuters and a a constable of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Kurla suburban railway station on Monday afternoon.
The man’s family in Chembur were called and he was handed over to them, a security force official said.
(With PTI inputs)