Bravo! Patrolman saves lives

Railway patrolman takes timely action during Vadodara Floods

Murari Kumar alerted nearest station after spotting breach in embankment on Kim-Kosamba section; to be felicitated on I-Day

Passengers of at least two dozen trains on the Vadodara-Surat line have railway patrolman Murari Kumar to thank for the safe journey that they had on Sunday. But for him, the track would have witnessed a major rail mishap when rising water level in Kim river washed out a huge chunk of the embankment on the Kim-Kosamba section of the Vadodara-Surat railway line.

Ignoring the heavy rain on Sunday, Kumar had ventured out to check the tracks. That was when he noticed a fatal breach on the tracks. He immediately informed the nearest railway station to stop all trains on the line.

Khemraj Meena, PRO of Vadodara Division of Western Railways, said, "While train movement had been stopped for a couple of hours before Kumar noticed the breach, had the pumping of water been completed earlier, a train would have passed over the spot. A disaster was thus averted by the patrolman."

While all rail traffic to the section was immediately halted, a team of about 50 people was deployed post haste to repair the embankment and help restart rail services as soon as water receded on that section of the tracks.

It took an entire day to repair the embankment and rail traffic was partially resumed after Monday evening.

Devendra Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Vadodara, announced that Kumar would be felicitated on August 15 for his devotion to duty and alertness in the face of disaster.