Kochi: A major mishap was averted when a speeding train rammed an inspection trolley at Kalamassery early in the afternoon on Saturday.
Three of the staff had a miraculous escape. The inspection trolley was proceeding from Aluva to Edapally and when it reached near Kalamassery, the Kochiveli-Chandigarh Sampark Kranthi Express (T No 12217) suddenly arrived along the same Upline track.
“The incident happened at 1.39 pm when the trolley reached a curve. The staff was not alerted about the train due to some miscommunication problem.
Hearing the sound of the approaching train, all the six staff suddenly jumped out of the trolley. Three of them then tried to lift up the trolley from the track.
They almost succeeded, thereby avoiding a major mishap. They jumped off at the last moment as the trolley umbrella projecting outwards got tangled in the train engine,” a railway officer said.
The scene would have been different had the staff failed to remove the trolley from the track as the ‘Push trolley’ too has iron wheels which could lead to derailment.
“We have ordered an inquiry into the incident. Strict punitive action will be taken against those responsible on the basis of the probe report,” said Divisional Operations Manager P L Ashok Kumar.
This is the second similar mishap in the last one year. On December 7 last, an inspection trolley that was engaged in repairing near Kalamassery got entangled with an Upline-proceeding express train, resulting in minor injury to a railway employee.
Meanwhile, sources said it was probably the fault of the Trolley Head. “The information regarding the train was passed through a walkie-talkie.
The same person was also involved in the December 7 incident. A detailed probe will be done on the exact cause of the mishap,” said an officer.
