Mangaluru, August 3: Presence of mind and timely action of a farmer averted a train accident and a possible catastrophe at Bondel-Pachanady railway track here on Saturday August 1st.
Frank Fernandes, an agriculturist alerted the Mangaluru-Madgaon Intercity Express about a broken railway track using a bunch of red flowers and managed to stop it just in time.
At around 8:20 am, while he was walking along the railway track to meet his neighbour Peter, Frank noticed that a fragment had appeared in the track by more than 1.5 inches and the track was mis-aligned. At the same time, Peter also came there and saw the broken railway track.
Frank immediately informed the matter to his younger brother Oswald Fernandes. They then learnt that the Mangaluru-Madgaon train would pass over the same track at around at 8:30 am. Oswald advised Frank to stop the train by waving a red coloured cloth.
However, Frank had no red cloth in his hand. Then he collected a bunch of red Clerodendrum Paniculatum (Pagoda) flowers and waved it at the approaching train. The loco pilot who noticed Frank’s signal stopped the train, just few metres away from the fragmented portion.
Frank Fernandes speaking to the media said, after noticing that the track was broken and was mis-aligned, I stopped the train by waving the red flowers. Immediately the loco pilot stopped the train. Later the matter was informed to the railway authority. Later, track was repaired and afterwards the train resumed its journey. The train had halted for over 50 minutes while the technical experts repaired the track, he said.
Sources said that the Mangaluru-Madgaon Intercity Express (train number 22636) halted from 8.58 am to 9.38 am. The other trains were allowed on the track at a reduced speed of 30 kmph instead of the permitted 65 kmph. The fragmentation of the track occurred due to weld failure, it is learnt.
