Seven children hurt in toy-train mishap

VADODARA, April 21: At least seven children were injured when the toy-train in Kamati Baug jumped off the 10-inch-wide rails criss-crossing the garden during a routine evening trip on Saturday. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation’s gardens-in charge M M Patel told Express Newsline that the train-driver, one Zakir Hussain, had been removed from service with immediate effect and the train suspended indefinitely. He said the mishap occurred when Hussain went over the seven km/ph limit at a turning.

If the rails and the train were thoroughly checked and repaired by Monday, however, services might resume on Tuesday, Patel said, adding that a departmental inquiry had also been instituted against the recently appointed driver.

This is the fourth such mishap since the toy-train was introduced in 1960, when it used to be pulled by a steam engine. This engine was replaced by a diesel locomotive in 1994.