Timely discovery of a fracture in the railway tracks in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh helped to avert an accident on Friday, an official said.

The discovery was made minutes before the Lucknow-Varanasi Intercity was to pass, he said. A major part of the rail track had cracked at a point between Dadupur and Gaura railway stations near the Khushhalgarh village.

A gateman at one of the railway crossing on the route had alerted the train driver by waving his red clothed turban. 

The train was stopped and later a team of the Government Railway Police (GRP) and state police personnel rushed to the spot. 

A railway official said the trains were being moved on the tracks with "caution" even as repairs were underway.