Sunday saw a train accident that left four injured in West Midnapore and another one being avoided by a whisker in neighbouring Burdwan district, thanks to the presence of mind of a villager.
Two local trains running on the same track collided leaving four persons injured, South Eastern Railway sources said adding the accident could have been far grave had the trains been running on full speed.
The accident occurred on Sunday morning when the two trains — Down Balichak-Howrah local and Down Midnapore-Howrah local — both bound for Howrah came on the same track and the one rammed into the tail of the other.
The accident occurred between Panshkura and Khirai Stations in West Midnapore district. An enquiry had been ordered as to how the two trains came on the same track and the drivers of the trains had been put under suspension sources said.
“One has to see whether it was the fault of the drivers or that of other staff responsible for deciding on which track the train should be placed,” a senior Traffic official said conceding the driver of the train which hit the other one from behind however did a good job in controlling the speed his car “otherwise there could have been quite a few casualties.”
He also said that the number of injured people could have been higher had it been a weekday when the trains are loaded with office-bound passengers for Kolkata.
Elsewhere at Burdwan under Easter Railways a major tragedy was averted when a local villager alerted the driver of a passenger train after seeing unscrewed fish-plates (which are used to bind two rails) “perhaps left that way by gang men who repair railway lines.”
Using his common prudence the man immediately waved a red cloth to alert the driver who sensing trouble applied brakes and stopped the train barely yards ahead of the spots where crack was noticed.
Though there was not official release on the part of the Eastern Railways staff on condition of anonymity said a major tragedy could have taken place if the man concerned had ignored the disengaged fishplates.