COIMBATORE: A loco pilot of a passenger train saved a drunk man lying on the railway track near Thudiyalur on Monday evening by applying brakes and stopping the train on time. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media.
According to the Government Railway Police (GRP), the incident was reported after the mainline electric multiple unit (MEMU) train left the city railway junction for Mettupalayam around 5.55pm on Monday.
K P Rahman, a lawyer who recorded the video of the incident and posted on his Facebook page, said he was surprised to see the train stopping near Thudiyalur around 6.10pm. “I am a regular train traveller and the MEMU stops only at Coimbatore North and Karamadai railway stations.
When it neared Thudiyalur on Monday evening, the loco pilot applied brakes, bringing the train to a sudden halt. The loco pilot got down from the train and forced the man lying on the track to leave the place with the help of home guard Dharmaraj. The man was in an inebriated state,” Rahman told TOI.
He said the loco pilot had spotted the man on the track from a distance. “While he applied the brakes, at least five train coaches had passed over the man before it came to a halt. The drunk man didn’t suffer any injuries.”
The GRP said they hadn’t registered any case against the drunk man. “He would have died had he attempted to get up from the track while the train was moving. The loco pilot made the right decision by stopping the train on seeing him, as anything would have happened otherwise.”
They said they had decided to intensify patrol along the track to control people’s movement.
