Eight minutes was all between an alert issued to stop the train and the train to arrive at Srivaikuntam railway station that saved lives of 800 passengers and the crew of Chennai-bound Chendur Express during the unprecedented flood on December 17.
And all those involved in saving the lives and safeguarding the agitated passengers of the train that got stranded for the next three days amidst flood were duly appreciated by Southern Railway with cash rewards.
December 17 started with rain followed by heavy downpour by 8 p.m. Chendur Express had left Nazareth railway station at 9.10 p.m. It was supposed to reach Srivaikuntam station by 9.20 p.m.
But, at 9.12 p.m. Srivaikuntam Station Master A. Jawber Ali got an alert from Permanent Way Inspector (PWI), Srivaikuntam, Jayamurugesalingam, to stop the train and not allow it to pass the station.
“By then, there was no waterlogging even in the platform here. But, the engineering staff said that he got information about water passing the danger mark ahead,” Mr. Ali told The Hindu.
Within the next 8 minutes, the train arrived and was stopped.
The gatekeeper K. Selvakumar had alerted the PWI about the impending danger. Breaching of some irrigation tanks had led to a sudden inundation of the railway tracks.
Even if the alert had come 10 minutes later, the train would have left the station without anyone knowing that tracks within a few hundred metres ahead were dangling in water with ballast and earth formation beneath had been washed away by the gushing flood water.
The gatekeeper and the PWI had done their part. But, the real challenge then began for Mr. Ali and his pointsman in managing the agitated passengers.
Some passengers picked a quarrel with the Station Master demanding to allow the train. “Even if we die on the way, let us go first,” was their argument. But, the Station Master of over two-and-a-half decades of service stood calm and firm in his decision. Some 300 passengers were rescued and taken to a nearby shelter. But, the rest of them could not be taken as the escape route too was flooded.
That night passed off relatively peaceful, but only for the passengers to burst into anger the next (Monday) morning.
With all the four sides surrounded by flood, no help came. All the food and tea prepared for the passengers by railways could not be taken to the station.
Only the nearby hamlet with 25 families came to their rescue. The poor people prepared food with whatever groceries left in their houses and fed the passengers. The anger of the passengers grew more as railway officials could not get them any help.
Even an attempt to airdrop food packets by Indian Air Force helicopter failed due to the inclement weather.
By then, the back-up power in the 18 coaches and at the station had drained. The station plunged into total darkness on Monday night and only water was available at the station. The Station Master was only praying that the anger of passengers did not go beyond their limits.
Only on Wednesday morning, the Station Master got a ray of hope when he saw a team of Railway Protection Force personnel approaching the station carrying biscuit packets on their head.
“I almost broke down when I saw the passengers waiting to get the biscuits,” he said. The Railway Protection Force had waded through hip-deep water for three km from Vellore. Later came the food air-dropped by the chopper.
Mr. Ali and Selvakumar were given a cash reward of ₹ 5,000 each. Twelve other railwaymen were given ₹ 2,500 reward each for their timely help and determination to stand with passengers during one of the worst floods of southern districts.
Madurai Divisional Railway Manager Sharad Srivastava in person thanked the local villagers who provided food to the passengers.
