Mysore, June 13 (SH)- Train services between Mysore and Bangalore, disrupted for several hours following the mishap in which a tipper collided with a moving train at the level crossing near here yesterday afternoon, were restored after 7.30 pm the same day.

The personnel of the Railway Department, in a swift action, cleared the rail track of the standed Railway engine and the carriages by towing the locomotive as well as the rakes to Mysore Railway Station. Mysore-Tanjavur Express, which was to leave Mysore Railway Station at 3.40 pm, Tirupati Express scheduled to leave at 5 pm and Tuti-corin Express scheduled to leave at 6 pm, left after about 7.30 pm.

When contacted, an official of South Western Railway told Star of Mysore today on phone that all train services from Mysore to-wards Bangalore and beyond have been restored since last evening itself.



Train collides with tipper near Mysore, driver killed

Five injured, rail traffic disrupted

Mysore, June 13 (SH&RK)- Following a collision at an unmanned level crossing near here between the Mysore-bound train coming from Yeshwantpur and a tipper at about 3.30 pm yesterday, train services between Bangalore and Mysore was disrupted for a few hours.

The driver of the truck, identified as Dinesh Kumar (34), was killed in the mishap. Five train passengers sustained injuries.

Although the engine and a carriage of the train involved in the accident went off the track, as the driver of the locomotive exercised timely care and acted, more serious consequences of the mishap were avoided, according to eyewitnesses.

The deceased driver of the tipper, who was on duty in the railway track doubling project, is learnt to be hailing from Varanasi District in Uttar Pradesh. The truck driver's negligence is said to be the cause of the accident.

The truck, from which crushed stone material of the railway project had been unloaded, was badly damaged and its parts were found scattered all around the spot where the train collided with the truck, namely Borayyana Gate near Siddalingapura.

The truck driver is reported to have been conversing with his mobile phone while passing across the unmanned level crossing at the time of collision. According to eyewitnesses, Dinesh Kumar jumped off the truck in filmistyle in an instant after the collision and died due to serious head injury as he fell to the ground. Some parts of the truck got stuck under the wheels of the Railway engine and were dragged to a distance. The engine as well as one or two carriages of the train also got damaged in the incident. The train later came to a halt near the K.R. Mills Colony. The personnel of the Railway Civil Police and Railway Protection Force soon arrived at the spot and shifted the injured passengers in 108 ambulance to K.R. Hospital for medical attention. Passengers in large numbers travelling by the train could be seen hurriedly coming out of the carriages and heaving a sigh of relief for having been spared injury or death. The officials arranged for transporting the stranded passengers to Mysore by buses.

Residents of surrounding areas, namely Siddalingapura, Naganahalli, Metagalli and K.R. Mills Colony, gathered at the accident spot in thousands and were watching the proceedings. Police had a tough time in controlling the surging crowds.

The Railway Police, who registered a case relating to the accident, shifted the body of the truck driver to the mortuary attached to K.R. Hospital. Divisional Railway Manager B.B. Verma, DCPs Basavaraj Mala-gatti and P. Rajendra Prasad, ACP B.P. Suresh, Inspectors K.N. Yashwantkumar, Kiran Kumar and Arun S. Gowda also reached the accident site and rendered help in transporting the stranded passengers safely to Mysore.

Rail traffic came to a halt until nearly 8 pm following the mishap. Railway personnel later towed the engine and the carriages to Mysore Railway Station.

Truck driver's negligence, cause of the mishap

Mysore, June 13 (SH)- The mishap on Saturday at the unmanned level crossing near Siddalingapura on Mysore-Bangalore rail track was entirely due to the carelessness and negligence of the truck driver, eyewitnesses said.

Oncoming trains can be sighted even from a distance of nearly two kilometres on either ride of the Borayyana Gate level crossing where the collision between the tipper and the train took place. Although the driver of the Railway engine drawing the Mysore-bound train was approaching the level crossing while sounding the loud horn, the truck driver Dinesh Kumar, in spite of having noticed the approaching train, is said to have tried to drive the truck past in level crossing. The Railway engine driver, having noticed the truck moving across the Railway track, is learnt to have applied the brakes, thus reducing the speed of the train considerably and averting a major disaster in spite of colliding with the tipper.

The reason for the mishap is clearly the carelessness and neglect on the part of the truck driver, who did not wait for the train to pass, in spite of noticing it moving towards the level crossing. The cleaner of the truck is reported to have absconded.

The level crossing where the mishap took place, located very near the Mysore Railway Station, has no gate and even a gateman has not been posted. It is said that a gate has not been provided because of sparse vehicular traffic and also rarity of passers-by at the spot.

Major disaster averted

Mysore, June 13 (SH)- Even as the collision between the train and tipper on rail project duty resulted in the death of the truck driver and injury to five passengers, a major disaster was averted by a hairline.

The large number of passengers, who were busy gathering their baggage in preparation to alight at the Mysore Railway Station after a nearly three-and-half hour journey from Bangalore, experienced feelings of horror and shock on hearing a loud bang as the train was passing the level crossing near Siddalingapura at about 3.30 pm yesterday.

Many of the passengers could be seen moving about in the carriages in jitters and peering out of the windows seeing parts of the truck flying in mid-air following the collision.

Anxiety was writ large on the hundreds of passengers who were moving out of the carriages with their baggages fearing serious consequences of the mishap. The speed of the train had come down sufficiently as it was approaching Mysore Railway Station, and therefore the engine driver could manage to bring the train to halt, thus avoiding further disaster if more carriages had gone off the track. The passengers heaved a sigh of relief as they escaped by a hairline.

Courtesy : Star Of Mysore