CHENNAI: Passengers on board the Yercaud Superfast Express had a narrow escape thanks to the loco pilot’s swift action after the train hit a ten-foot-long iron rail piece kept on the tracks in an apparent derailment attempt near Salem on Tuesday night.

Interestingly, among the other passengers of the Chennai-bound train coming from Erode were three sitting judges and two retired judges of the Madras High Court. The incident took place when the train crossed Sankagiri and was approaching Magudanchavadi railway station, around 9.45 pm.

According to railway sources, as the train hit a hard object, the loco pilot acted swiftly and brought the train to a halt, averting a major tragedy. Soon, a team of officials from the Salem Railway Division, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the railway police arrived at the scene and retrieved a ten-foot-long rail piece kept on the track.

Fingerprint experts have extracted chance prints from the spot, while a sniffer dog was deployed to track the culprits. After replacing the damaged engine, the train resumed its journey after a delay of two and a half hours and reached Salem at 12.50 am instead of the scheduled arrival at 9.57 pm. It then chugged into the Chennai Central railway station at around 7.30 am, three and a half hours late, said the sources.

Police sources said that after preliminary inquiries, police suspect more than one person was involved in the derailment attempt, as the rail piece was heavy and cannot be lifted by one person alone.

Four special teams have been formed to probe the incident, and they are checking CCTV recordings along the tracks to nab the culprits.