Truck falls on railway track in Tamil Nadu; passenger train stopped, accident averted

Madurai: A major accident was averted after a passenger train was promptly stopped on Sunday before it approached a spot where a lorry had fallen down onto the railway tracks from an elevated stretch of a road near Tenkasi, an official said.

An elderly man and his wife are said to have noticed the fallen lorry and they seem to have played a role in stopping the train. ”This is being verified locally,” a railway official here said, when asked about the incident.

Kollam Express (Train No 16101) from Chennai was stopped near Tenkasi, about 180 km from here in the early hours of Sunday before it could reach the spot where the truck fell on the tracks.

The train was held up for nearly three hours as railway authorities deployed machinery and workers to clear the obstruction caused by the vehicle. Another ”empty train” bound for Kerala in connection with the Attukal Pongala festival was also delayed, the official said.

Tenkasi, located in the foothills of the Western Ghats in southern Tamil Nadu, is near Kerala.