23-year-old rail enthusiast G Sakpal averted disaster on Monday morning at Kurla railway station after spotting a loose fishplate on the Harbour line and alerting the authorities



G Sakpal spotted the loose fishplate right on time



Nothing escapes rail enthusiast G Sakpal’s eye. The 23-year-old engineer averted a disaster on Monday morning at the Kurla railway station after he spotted that a fishplate on the Harbour line — the metal bar bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a track — had come loose.

Although the loosening of the fishplate would not have been a cause for alarm initially, it could have led to a catastrophe after more trains passed over the tracks, explained CR officials.

Like any other day, Sakpal was waiting for a train on platform 7, with scores of other commuters, around 7.30 am to get to his office in Andheri when he saw that a part of the rail, some 4-5 m away, was jutting out on the top and that a fishplate had been damaged. He was able to notice that something was amiss largely because of his passion: he is an avid rail enthusiast.

“I immediately alerted the motorman of the train standing there and also called up the railway helpline,” said Sakpal.

Railway officials said a team of gangmen and workers was immediately dispatched to take care of the damaged track.

A CR official said the repairs led to a minor delay in train services on the Harbour line. Services resumed by 8 am, and a caution order was issued to all trains to stick to a speed limit of 10 kmph.

Western Railway trains, too, were delayed in the morning owing to heavy rain. The rain also led to traffic snarls on the Western Express Highway as well as the Eastern Express Highway.

The ‘technical’ problem at Kurla came a day after a 10-hour mega block in Diva. Railway authorities called the block a success. This was the first phase of blocks that would be undertaken for the next three Sundays, till the end of October. Works are being undertaken at Diva to allow operations of fast trains at the station.