4 killed as mystery man drives EMU out of city stn, rams into goods train

Accident At Vyasarpadi Leaves 11 Injured, Disrupts All Railway Services

V Ayyappan TNN

April 30, 2009

Chennai: In a mysterious incident, an unidentified person commandeered a suburban train from Chennai Central and crashed into a goods train 3.5km away, killing 4 persons and injuring 11. The consequence would have been worse had the goods train not taken the impact – it was about to take a diversion, exposing an incoming train with hundreds of passengers on the same line. The Chennai-Tiruvallur suburban train set out abruptly from the Moore Market Complex station at 4.55am on Wednesday, 20 minutes before its scheduled departur

e and rammed into the goods train at Vyasarpadi Jiva station three minutes later at the maximum speed of 96 k

mph. The drivers and guard of the goods train jumped out before the collision, but passengers on the local train were unable to escape. Investigators said bloodstains were found in the motorman’s cabin, but no body was found. Given the peculiar nature of the accident, the investigation has been handed over to the CBCID. Sabotage had not been ruled out, the police said. There were signs that the standard protocol to hand over charge of the train was not followed by railway staff. Southern Railway general manager MS Jayanth said: “The train was operated by an unauthorised person, who seemed to have some technical knowledge about locomotives.” Among the dead, three were trapped inside the first coach of the train, while another person was found dead under the debris on the station platform. Three of the dead were identified as Mohanraj, 40 from Avadi, Joseph Anto

nyraj, 40, from Villivakkam and Arogyanathan, 35. The identity of the fourth remained unestablished. The injured were admitted to Perambur railway hospital. The accident disrupted suburban train services on the Tiruvallur-Chennai route and also long distance trains.
ACCIDENT OR AN ACT OF SABOTAGE?
Toll would have been higher if goods trai

n had not taken brunt of collision – another train was following it 4.55 am: Chennai-Tiruvallur train, with 10 passengers on board, pulls out of platform 14 of Madras Moore Market station 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Unidentified person is believed to have been at the controls 4.56 am: Train picks up speed, zips past the Basin Bridge station, triggering panic among railway staff 4.57 am: Local train collides head-on with goods train in front of Vyasarpadi Jiva station just before the latter could branch off to the Tondiarpet railway yard. Mangalore Mail, packed with passengers, was right behind the goods train 5.15 am: Railway officials and fire and rescue services personnel reach the spot. Find three bodies trapped inside the first coach of the local train. The motorman's cabin lies destroyed 5.30 am: An unidentified person, suspected to be a beggar, found dead under the debris on Vyasarpadi platform, where parts of the platform shed were damaged 6-1.30 pm: Gas cutters used to cut open the mangled coach to retrieve the bodies. When that failed, a crane was brought and the first coach was lifted off the track.