The guard fixing the pipe (left), RPF constable Swarup Dutta. (Express photo)
An RPF constable saved the life of a guard who was under the Digha-bound Duronto Express repairing a brake pipe when the train started moving Friday. The incident took place at around 11.30 am between Chandmari station and a footbridge in Howrah where the train stopped after the brake pipe between the second and third last compartments snapped.
While guard SN Roy was under the train fixing the pipe, it suddenly started moving. RPF constable Swarup Dutta, who was on the spot videographing the repair work to maintain a digital record, immediately raised an alarm. He began to shout as Roy hung over the wheels of the moving train.
As his shouts could not be heard by the driver, Dutta pulled out his walkie talkie and said, “Driver saab gari aste, driver saab gari aste, guard saheb bhetore (Driver stop the train, the guard is underneath it).” He also appealed to passengers to pull the chain to stop the train.
Meanwhile, another constable jumped onto the train and pulled the chain. After moving around 500 metres, the train came to a halt and Roy emerged unhurt. “It is his (Dutta’s) presence of mind that saved the guard,” said Rajnish Kumar Tripathi, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF.
Sources said a three-member team has been formed to look into the matter, which will submit a report to railway authorities within seven days.