MUMBAI: A senior assistant loco pilot (ALP) Sathish Kumar of the Central Railway (CR) risked his life to reset the alarm chain knob of Godan Express on May 6, which had halted on the Kalu river bridge after a passenger pulled an alarm chain in the train.
The Central Railway shared a video of the incident on social media and appealed to passengers not to needlessly pull alarm chains in trains.
In order to restart the train, resetting the coach from where the chain was pulled was necessary. On this train, the knob was present on the second last coach.
In a video that went viral on social media, senior assistant loco pilot Sathish Kumar can be seen crawling under the Chhapra-bound Godan Express, from a narrow gap between the wheel and other underbelly equipment to reset the alarm chain knob.
“Sathish Kumar was appreciated by senior railway officials for dedication towards duty and efforts to resume the journey at a critical time, avoiding any delay to the subsequent trains running on the section including local trains from Kalyan to Kasara. We request the passengers not to pull the alarm chain needlessly,” said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relations officer, Central Railway.
The Central Railway registered 197 cases of alarm chain pulling between April 16 and 30. Of the 197 cases as per the CR, most of the cases were reported in trains heading in the North East direction.
The majority of alarm chain pull incidents were reported from locations including Kalyan, Kasara, Dadar, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), Lonavala, Titwala, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), and Thane.