Madhubani: Passengers of Anand Vihar (New Delhi)-bound Garib Rath had a providential escape on Friday after its engine decoupled from the coaches, and both the locomotive and rakes kept running on the same track for about a kilometre, before they could be stopped.
The incident occurred between Khajauli and Rajnagar railway stations of East Central Railway (Samastipur division) around 12.30pm after it started from Jaynagar in Madhubani district. The decoupled bogies rolled on the tracks between railway crossing no. 26 and 24, sending the passengers in panic. Hue and cry by panicked passengers alerted the guard who informed the loco pilot. The engine was then stopped and brought back, and coupled with the passenger coaches to finally resume the journey after 45 minutes, around 1.15pm.
Samastipur divisional railway manager Vinay Srivastav said the locomotive and rakes were of Northern Railway. Both loco and bogies were checked at the site, as well as in Samastipur and Darbhanga, and no issues were detected, he added.
Passengers said that they couldn’t understand anything initially. But the possibility of a collision between the coaches and engine made them alert the guard. All of them later thanked the Almighty for averting the tragedy.