The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Tuesday awarded a farmer for stopping a goods train before it could move over a fractured track.
Amar Dewri had on December 7 last year noticed a big rail fracture while crossing the track between Sonuabari and Dharamtul stations, about 85 km east of Guwahati.
The 50-year-old farmer waited on the arterial track — the lifeline for eastern Assam, Nagaland and southern Arunachal Pradesh — for trains from either side. He rushed towards the first, a goods train, he saw approaching.
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“He kept flailing his arms. The locomotive pilots noticed him and applied emergency brakes and managed to stop the train a few metres from the cracked line,” NFR spokesperson Pranav Jyoti Sharma told
“He helped avert a probable accident,” Mr. Sharma said.
Movement of trains was stopped temporarily that day for technicians to repair the track damage.
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Mr. Dewri’s alertness earned him ₹5,000 and a certificate from NFR Additional General Manager Lokesh Narayan.
NFR officials also awarded Probir Sonowal and Vikesh Kumar, loco pilot and assistant loco pilot of the goods train for stopping the train in time. They were awarded ₹ 2,500 each along with a certificate.
Mr. Dewri appreciated the NFR gesture. “I feel honoured for doing something I felt was my duty,” he said.