New Delhi: IT stopped just ten metres short of a coffee stall, as a train’s rake came crashing into the platform at a speed of 30 kmph while entering Churchgate railway station. With the train overshooting its course, and the overhead wires snapping immediately as a result of serious friction, officials suspect the motorman failed to apply brakes on time.
The collision occurred at 11.20 am Sunday, injuring five passengers, including the motorman who was subsequently suspended.
The CCTV visual released by evening shows shocked commuters jumping off the train, even as waiting passengers try to run, as the visuals show overhead wires come snapping. S K Sood, General Manager, Western Railway, said they were looking at the incident as a “manual error”. While there was no fatality, the train hub had transformed into a sight-seeing point by evening, with commuters and eyewitnesses gaping at the battered front profile of the coach that continued to be perched mid-air, even as engineers tried to repair its impact on the track and the overshot metal buffers. The cement edges of the platform had also come chipped off as they could not stand the friction of the crashing coach.
Five hours after the collision, the guard and the loco inspector also stood suspended.
“Motorman L S Tiwary has also sustained injuries. The coach was badly damaged,” said Shailendra Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager of the Western Railway (WR). “Being Sunday, the platform was not crowded, else it would have resulted in a big disaster,” he said.
Sood and Kumar reached the spot and launched restoration operation of the suburban services by noon.
Senior officials suspected failure in applying brakes as the primary cause, though they also said it was “too early and premature to speak about the cause of the accident”. The probe now has included all technical apparatus, including the speed detectors, and CCTV cameras to ascertain the time the coach took to cross the length of the platform. “The exact reason can be ascertained only after proper investigation,” said WR’s chief PRO Sharat Chandrayan.
“Last year, we installed hydrualic buffers at Chuchgate station, which reduced the speed of the train at the time of collision, otherwise this accident may have been worse,” said Kumar.
