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Railway rewards motorman who flagged signal failure
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.
The Story in Brief
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.
The Indian Opinion
Indian Railways often punishes those who bend rules, but this case shows a welcome reversal when evidence prevailed. The initial blame on the motorman for overspeeding ignored a pattern of signal failures and a disconnected warning buzzer. The real test is whether the inquiry's recommendations will be implemented across all divisions, especially mandatory investigation of every signal failure and double lock access.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
