Alert train driver averts disaster

“A miraculous escape” is how For Pallavi alias Pinky, a software engineer with Jumper Networks in the Bagmane Tech Park described it.

“There is neither a gate nor a signal at the railway crossing. About 20 vehicles were caught in the gridlock right on the track for nearly 20 minutes. Although the train was slow, we were saved because of the driver’s presence of mind,” she told Deccan Herald.

According to Pinky, she has never seen a train moving on the track which is hardly visible. “It emerged suddenly. The driver probably spotted the jam from a distance and decided to stop the train,” she added.

Pinky says that had the driver not stopped the train, dozens of people would have been killed. A traffic policeman also caught in the jam, however, did little to clear the mess, Pinky said.

Meer Arif Ali, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Railways, nevertheless, has a different take on the incident.

According to him, no passenger or goods train is run on the track as it ends at the factory. “It was probably a train transporting some material to the factory. Drivers of these trains are strictly instructed to run the train ‘very slow’.

These trains are unlike passenger or goods trains which recklessly crush down anything coming under them. Further, a man sits outside the cabin of the driver and sees to it that nothing comes under the train,” he added.