# Railway rewards motorman who flagged signal failure 2026-08-08T14:43:27+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Southern Railway has dropped disciplinary action against motorman K. Karunakaran, who flagged a safety issue on March 5, and rewarded him instead. His name has been recommended for a Railway Board award. On that day, Karunakaran stopped his train despite a green signal after seeing two trains on the same track near Ambattur-Avadi. A multi-departmental inquiry confirmed the signal had failed. It found that automatic signal S192 had failed multiple times before but was reset without following standard procedure. Other signals had also failed without investigation. The inquiry recommended safety drives, station master counselling, and double locks on signal relay rooms. ## Coverage - thehindu.com Tags: Chennai Division, motorman, railway safety, signal failure, Southern Railway, whistleblower Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/railway-rewards-motorman-who-flagged-signal-failure/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/railway-rewards-motorman-who-flagged-signal-failure/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.