Kochi: A week after a speeding train rammed into a Track Inspection Trolley at Kalamassery, a railway inquiry found a lower cadre employee “guilty” even as charges arose from several quarters that the Group D staff was being made a scapegoat to protect higher officials.
“The inquiry report has been filed. A Group ‘D’ staff Harish who was then posted at the Ernakulam North railway station cabin to alert about incoming trains was found guilty. Action will be taken against him,” said sources.
On November 29 last, a major mishap was averted when a speeding train rammed a ‘Push Trolley’ at Kalamassery and three employees had a miraculous escape.
The 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 employees jumped out hearing the sound of the approaching train and tried to lift the trolley from the track. They almost succeeded, thereby avoiding a major mishap. However, the trolley umbrella projecting outwards got tangled with the train engine.
“The inspection men were not alerted about the approaching train. The scene would have been different had the staff failed to remove the trolley from the track.
During the probe we found out that a trackman was assigned to alert and he failed to carry out the task”, the sources said.
However, there were charges that the said employee had not even completed his one-year probation period and that it was the duty of the Station Master to inform the inspection crew.
