2 signal failures in a fortnight, alert pilots avert mishaps

They spotted the inconsistency between the signal and track alignment at the deviation point ahead of Arakkonam station. “Signal was cleared for Platform 1, whereas the track clearance was given for Platform 3. The interlock (signal and track synchronisation) was not in sync then,” said a railway source to DTNext.

“Loco pilots normally go by the signal because it is not easy to spot track deviations while travelling at some speed. Had the loco pilot used conventional wisdom on Saturday, he would have entered Platform no 1. Should there be an approaching train on Platform no 1 in the opposition direction or even if there were workers doing repair or maintenance, it would have been a disaster of some scale,” the source said. 

Significantly, the Arakkonam incident could not be dismissed as a stray case, for an electric maintenance car returning from Chengalpet suffered a similar interlock failure at Singaperumal Kovil on September 9, only the signal was right and track routing was wrong then. 

“Consequence of the maintenance car straying on to the path of a south bound express train is for people to assume. In both instances, smart loco pilots had averted mishaps. Who acknowledges that?” the source remarked, recalling how a motorman was suspended for allowing a ‘stabled’ EMU to roll back (EMU without power supply moved a few paces in the reverse direction) at Arakkonam on July 10 this year. 

A few days after the incident, dozens of loco pilots had attempted in vain to meet the divisional bosses to urge them to entrust the responsibility of fixing skid blocks for wheels of ‘stabled’ EMUs on station staff.