3 Railway Officials Suspended After Train Moves In Reverse Direction

Bareilly (UP):

Three railway employees were suspended, hours after Purnagiri Janshatabdi Express started running in a reverse direction on the railway tracks, an official said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Wednesday evening after the train ran over a cow near a home signal, PRO of Izzatnagar division of North Eastern Railway Rajendra Singh said.

The train, carrying 60 passengers, was going from Delhi to Tanakpur in Uttarakhand.

It stopped for a while after hitting the cow and the pressure pipe of the engine burst, Mr Singh said.

The train then started running in the reverse direction, the PRO said, adding that despite concerted efforts of the loco pilot, it kept running backwards following which he informed the Railway administration.

All railway crossings from Tanakpur to Khatima were closed.

The train was eventually stopped by putting mud and gravel at the gate number 35 sewer line between Chakarpur and Khatima, Singh said, adding that all the passengers in the train were safe.

On Wednesday night, Izzatnagar DRM Ashutosh Pant suspended Loco Pilot Mubarak Ansari, Assistant Loco Pilot Jeetendra Kumar and a guard, and constituted a three-member committee to investigate the incident, the PRO added.