TOI Photograph

BHUBANESWAR: The Railways on Sunday suspended seven of its employees after Ahmedabad-Puri Express train travelled 13 km without engine on Saturday night. The train with 22 coaches travelled from Titlagarh station in Balangir district to Kesinga station in Kalahandi district.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has suspended train driver S Venkat Rao of Raipur, assistant train driver Sushant Singh, along with carriage and wagon department employees G S Panda, Lakha Kaspeta and P Bagh, who were in charge of coach repair/maintenance.

Following the incident, the Railway Board has instructed that a month-long joint safety drive will be conducted across the country by operating and electrical departments regarding shunting at stations.

The incident occured at Titlagarh when the engine was being detached from the train. Coaches were stopped by alert Railway staff, who put stones to bring the carriages to a halt, said official sources.

Cause of rolling down of the train was non-application of skid-brake on the wheels of the coaches by the staff deployed there. According to rules, the staff should have put the skids.

"When engine is detached to be attached at the other end, the coaches should be secured with skids at the wheels. In this case, it appears that the skids had not been placed properly. Facts will be known after detailed inquiry," said an East Coast Railway spokesperson.

DRM Sambalpur Jaideep Gupta has ordered a senior officer-level inquiry consisting of divisional heads of different departments.

"A major accident has been averted. It would have been fatal for the passengers. It happened due to negligence of railways officials," said Mukesh Sharma, a passenger.

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In Video: Ahmedabad-Puri express rolls without engine for 10 km, narrow escape for passengers