Train driver suspended for speeding 120 km/h

New Delhi: The drivers of Gatiman Express and Malwa Express and their assistants were suspended for running their trains at 120 km/h on a section of track where the caution speed limit was 20 km/h.

The incident occurred recently when the train crew violated the precautionary speed limit on the same stretch, namely between Jajau and Mania stations near Agra Cantt, where a temporary speed limit has been imposed due to ongoing renovation work on a railway bridge.

Prashati Srivastava, PRO, Agra Division, confirmed the incident and said that “disciplinary action has been taken against all the concerned employees.”

“In the first incident, the train driver and assistant train driver of Gatiman Express, India’s first semi-high-speed train that runs at 160 kmph between Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi and Virangana Lakshmibai Jhansi Junction in Uttar Pradesh, violated the recommended speed limit after the train left Agra Cantt for Gwalior,” a railway source said.

“Just a few days after the Gatiman incident, the drivers of another train, the Malwa Express, which runs between Katra (Jammu) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh), committed a similar violation at the same place, driving the train at 120 kmph,” he added.

Railway officials say that normally all high-speed and medium-speed trains are allowed to run at 120 kmph on the said section. However, repairs to a river bridge were recently started and this restriction was imposed at 20 kmph. “It seems that they forgot to slow down the train while taking precautions. This was unexpected for the train drivers and is a serious mistake that could have put the lives of hundreds of passengers in danger,” said an official of the operations department, adding that the railways takes such mistakes very seriously. The railways imposes speed restrictions for safe operation of trains for various reasons such as the condition of the tracks, ongoing repair work on the tracks, old railway bridges, station remodeling, etc.