Hey Prabhu! Engineless railway coach travels 20 km in Barmer

An engineless railway coach travelled 20 kms from Barmer railway station, a day before Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu announced sweeping reforms including steps to increase safety in trains during the railway budget.

The unmanned coach, which was in shunting mode at the platform ahead of its scheduled departure of 9pm on Wednesday, got detached around 7 pm and travelled for 20 kms on the track’s downward slope from Barmer railway station before it finally crashed into a barrier, said Gopal Sharma, the public relations officer of North-western railway, Jodhpur division.

Sharma said that a three-member committee has been constituted to probe the incident and suggest measures to prevent such incidents in future. Terming it to b a matter of sheer negligence, he said three persons, shunter Nigam Kant and two pointsmen — Khubaram and Pannaram — were suspended. He said that on the basis of the committee’s report further action will be taken.

This is not for the first time when such an incident has happened here. Last year too, some engineless coaches of a train had travelled more or less the same distance.