A major train accident was averted near Meerut on the Meerut-Saharanpur route on Wednesday when the track changing system stopped functioning. The automatic panel changer of the Daurala station, few km from Meerut, stopped working few minutes before the Delhi-Dehradun Express was out to cross the station.
This comes weeks after the Utkal Express was derailed on the same route near Khatauli, killing 25 people and injuring more than 154 people after the train was allowed to pass the track when repair work was going on.
Local officials said the gate man of Daurala was prompt in informing the station officials about the problem in the track changing system after which the Delhi-Dehradun Super Express was stopped.
“Even minutes of delay in informing the officials about the problem in track changing panel could have caused a havoc,” said a senior railway employee at Meerut.
The Station Superintendent of Daurala, Dinesh Das, told The Hindu that he quickly informed about the problem to higher officials after which a team of technicians came from Meerut and fixed the track changing system.
Senior officials in the Northern Railway said the matter had not come to their cognisance but the local officials would be asked to explain how the automatic track changing system stopped functioning.
