Midnight scare in Rajkot as train arrives after gateman fails to close level crossing
The Rajkot division of the Western Railway suspends the gateman of Malaviyanagar Fatak pending an inquiry.
3 min read
The goods train was coming from Gondal towards the Bhaktinagar railway station in Rajkot. (Representational Photo)In an incident that gave a scare to road users at Tuesday midnight, the gateman at the Malaviyanagar railway crossing in Gujarat’s Rajkot city failed to close the gates and a goods train came within a distance of a few metres away.
However, no untoward incident happened as the people stopped their vehicles on their own and the loco pilot halted the train.
The incident took place at the busy level crossing-11, popularly known as Malaviyanagar Fatak, officials of the Rajkot division of the Western Railway said. “Somehow, the gateman failed to close the gates even as the train came close to the LC. However, our interlocking system was operational and as the gate was open, the default signal near the gate was red. Therefore, the loco pilot of the goods train applied brakes and halted the train,” Ashwini Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, told The Indian Express.
Kumar added that Sumit Kumar, the gateman in charge of Malaviyanagar Fatak, was suspended after the incident. “We suspended him this morning, pending an inquiry into the incident,” he said.
Purported videos of the incident show people stopping at the railway crossing on their own with a train nearing the level crossing. “The loco pilot of the goods train did a good job by halting the train after noticing that the signal was red. The people also did a good job by stopping on their own at the crossing even though the gateman failed to close the gates,” Kumar said.
The Malaviyanagar Fatak lies between the busy Dhebar Road and Gondal Road, one of the arterial roads of Rajkot.
Kumar said the gateman later closed the gates, gave a green signal and helped the goods train cross the level crossing.
The goods train was coming from Gondal towards the Bhaktinagar railway station in Rajkot. “As it was a goods train, the incident didn’t affect the schedule of other trains in our division,” Kumar added.
“The default signal in the electronic interlocking system at a level crossing is red. The signal turns green only if the gates are closed and only after that trains are supposed to cross the level crossing. Thus, as the signal was red, there was nothing wrong from the safety point of view,” Kumar said.
“Sometimes communication fails, for example due to the failure of a phone line and staff may not be able to give proper signal. However, the interlocking system is designed to prevent accidents by giving a proper signal even in case of a human error, as happened in this incident,” he added.
Railway officials said the goods train was on its way from Modpur in Jamnagar district to Kailra in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
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