Shepherd runs for a km before flagging down goods train as he spots rail track broken; honoured

Indore, Feb. 23 (PTI): A 30-year-old shepherd averted an accident in Dahod district of Gujarat located on the Delhi-Mumbai route as he ran for about a kilometre before flagging down a train after he spotted a railway track broken at a place, officials said on Wednesday.

Dahod falls under the Ratlam division of the Western Railway.

The shepherd, Rakesh Baria, was honoured by the Ratlam division railway officials with a cash reward of INR5,000 and a citation on Wednesday, two days after the incident, they said.

The incident occurred on February 21, in which Baria flagged down a goods train by waving a red cloth after seeing the broken track in Dahod, due to which an accident was averted, the officials said.

After knowing about Baria’s act, Ratlam’s Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Vinit Gupta invited him to his office and honoured him with Rs 5,000 and a citation, praising his presence of mind and promptness, which helped avert an accident.

After being honoured, Baria said that when he was grazing his goats, he saw a railway track broken at one place, after which he ran for a kilometre to raise an alarm, but did not see any railway employee there.

“Then I called my father and informed him about the broken railway track. He tried to contact some railway personnel over the phone, but failed to do so,” he said.

Afterwards, as per the advice of his father, he went to his home located nearby and returned to the track with a piece of red cloth, he said.

Baria said that later, he sat about two kilometres from the place of the broken track and started waving the red cloth on seeing a goods train. On seeing him, the loco pilot stopped the train by applying emergency brakes.

After that, the work of repairing the rail track was launched, he said.

The railway officials said that the broken track has been repaired.

A total of around 125 trains – passenger as well as goods trains – pass on this busy route on a daily basis, they said.