Train breaks down, DAR exams postponed

Over 2000 aspirants from Belagavi and Dharwad district were unable to write their District Armed Reserve (DAR) police exams on Sunday, as the Rani Chennamma Express they were travelling in, could not reach Bengaluru on time. Technical snags are said to be the cause for delay in the arrival of the train. 

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, on Sunday, announced the postponement of the police exam to facilitate the affected students.

According to the DAR aspirants, over 2,000 of them were headed to Bengaluru to take their DAR exams scheduled at 10:30 am on Sunday, at various examination centres.

But the train which was supposed to reach Hubballi Railway Station at 10:30 pm on Saturday, arrived late at Hubballi station --at 6:00 am on Sunday. The aspirants protested on the Hubballi platform blaming railway officials for the delay.

Reason for delay 

Railway officials said that one of the two engines of a goods train carrying coal from Goa to Hubballi, broke down near Mugad, on the outskirts of Dharwad on Saturday at around 10:00 pm.

Railway officials tried to clear the track using the passenger locomotive of Rani Chennamma.

But the passenger locomotive could not push the goods train from behind for more than two kilometres.

Meanwhile, South Western Railway officials dispatched an additional goods locomotive and cleared the track.

“At 1:10 am, Rani Chennama’s engine returned to the station. However, the protesting passengers did not allow the railway officials to attach the engine to train. This resulted in further delay of the train,” said SWR Central Public Relations Officer E Vijaya.

“From our (railway department) side, the train was delayed by one-and-half hours and we could have made good the delay if the protesters had allowed us. The train could have reached Bengaluru by 8:00 am on Sunday. However, the aspirants staged a protest and the train was delayed by over three-and half-hours,” she added.

SWR Divisional Regional Manager Rajesh Mohan said a departmental inquiry would be conducted. “We made sincere efforts to clear the track at the earliest,” he added.