In the chaos following the derailment of the Thiruvanathapuram-Mangaluru Express, one man’s quick and clear-headed action stood out. Babu Varghese, Station Superintendent of Karukutty, showed the presence of mind to send a warning to the locopilot of a train that fast approached the accident site and averted a major collision.
Mr. Varghese gave signal for the Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Express, stationed at Angamaly, to pass through the Karukutty station at 2 a.m.
Meanwhile, the Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram Superfast Express had already left Chalakudy and was proceeding in the opposite direction.
Mr. Varghese got a message on his walkie-talkie about the derailment and on rushing to the spot, he saw that the signal post and a part of the coach had infringed on the down-line through which the train from the other direction was slated to pass within a few minutes.
“I had no time to spare, not even a few seconds, as the Chennai Superfast had already left Chalakudy. I ran back and contacted its locopilot on walkie-talkie and asked him to halt the train at the Intermediate Block Signal between the two stations,” he said.
Just three minutes
In fact, it was the last signal before the train entered the accident area and only three minutes were left for it to pass the point.
Mr. Varghese sought to explain this critical intervention just as part of his standard operating procedure.
Karukutty Station Superintendent alerted the locopilot of the train coming from the opposite direction and averted a collision
