Guard who risked life to ensure train chugs on rewarded

A train guard who risked his life to ensure that the Chamarajanagar-Tirupati Express chugs along smoothly on December 26, 2018, has been rewarded by the South Western Railway.

The train from Chamarajanagar was stuck on the railway girder bridge near the Srirangapatna station after its emergency alarm chain was pulled. The train could not move forward until the alarm was disabled, for which someone had to come out of the train and reach the inter-chain communication device located outside the compartment.

Vishnumoorthy N balanced himself on the narrow steel girder and reached for the back of the compartment. He not only completed the task within 10 minutes but also caught the person who had pulled the alarm chain without a valid reason. The suspect was then handed over to the Railway Protection Force.

South Western Railway General Manager Ajay Kumar Singh on Monday felicitated the train guard and awarded him a cash prize of Rs 5,000. A 1988-batch Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) cadre, Vishunumoorthy was promoted to head constable later. He joined as a commercial clerk in the Bengaluru division in 2004 and became a guard in 2010.