Action sought against drunkrly. gate man

A drunk railway gate man forced the driver of a train to slow down, stop the train, get down and asked him lower the railway gate before the train could move on in Tilakwadi in Belagavi city on Saturday night.

Failing to get the green signal from the gate man at a railway crossing in the city, an alert railway driver stopped the train for a few minutes.

The train, the Pune composite express (No 40423), stopped near the railway crossing and the driver hooted the whistle a few times.

But the gate man was asleep in the guard gate.

The driver then got off the engine and gave an earful to the gate man, who then lowered the gate and gave the green signal.

This happened at around 2.30 a.m.

Eyewitnesses said that the gate man was so drunk that he went back to sleep after the train left and a few commuters had to wake him up again to make him close the gate.

Advocate Harshvardhan Patil, who obtained the video of the moment, has asked the railway authorities to take strict action against the gate man.