Mumbai: Three rail staffers save 70-year-old crossing tracks

A railway official pulls the man out from under the train

A 70-year-old man, crossing the railway tracks, was saved in the nick of time, thanks to the alert rail staff at Kalyan station. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon and the senior citizen, Hari Shankar Prasad, sustained some minor injuries, said officials.

"The train had just started from Kalyan and suddenly this senior citizen came in the front of it. We immediately applied brakes hard, but he was already under the train. Thankfully, there was minimal impact and we managed to pull him out safely. He escaped with minor scratches," assistant loco pilot Ravi Kumar told mid-day.

Chief Permanent Way Inspector Santosh Kumar, who was at the site, said, "We were working on the tracks for routine maintenance when we saw this old man crossing the tracks at the same time as the Mumbai-Varanasi train was departing the platform. It happened in a split second and I shouted out to the loco pilots of the train, which was just beginning to gain momentum. They applied the brakes really hard and saved him."

Central Railway General Manager Alok Kansal announced an on-the-spot cash reward of Rs 2,000 each for Loco Pilot S K Pradhan, Ravi and Santosh for their timely action, CR's chief public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said. CR officials said Prasad was later counselled not to cross tracks. "The railway administration appeals to the public not to cross tracks and endanger their lives," Sutar added.

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