Mumbai: Alert patrolman averts major mishap near Kalamboli

Central Railway plans to reward railwayman Vikram Samadhan for his prompt action

Swift action of an alert railway patrolman saved the lives of hundreds of people onboard a Diva-bound train on Thursday. Vikram Samadhan started his duty in the morning at Taloja Panchand and after walking about 5 km, he spotted a fracture in the rail near Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai.

Realising that the Diva-bound train would soon be heading that way, Samadhan ran back 600 metres and set off railway detonators and flagged a red signal to alert the driver of the train, which was just 400 metres away, said railway officials.

Officials said Samadhan, a trained railwayman, accurately calculated the braking distance of the train to ensure the driver gets enough time to halt if the transporter was on full speed. As the train had just left Kalamboli station, it was proceeding slowly and the driver spotted Samadhan signalling an emergency on time.

"Samadhan immediately flagged the red signal and the train stopped just before the detonators, thus saving thousands of lives and averting a major catastrophe. He will be suitably rewarded by Central Railway," said the CR chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar.

The Panvel-Diva section is one of the key arterial routes of CR, Mumbai division, which not only serves regional rail traffic, national too. It also connects the south and north India.

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