Improved coaches save lives and limbs of Poorva passengers

HOWRAH: Passengers of the 12381 Up Howrah-New Delhi Poorva Express can thank their stars that they were travelling in advanced Linke-Hoffman-Bosch (LHB) coaches. Had the Poorva Express not changed over to LHB rakes earlier this year passengers could have suffered serious injuries or even died after Sunday’s derailment outside Liluah station. There were telltale signs that the 11 passenger coaches got dragged for a few hundred metres after getting derailed.Their wheels had dug deep into the ground beside the rails and had split concrete sleepers into two. But not a single one of the coaches collapsed or folded inward like their predecessors used by Indian Railways.
“It was like an explosion. I couldn’t see anything for some time due to the dust cloud and then started running towards the station where the coaches had come to rest. I felt that people had died inside the coaches and was relieved when they emerged, shaken but largely unhurt. Save for a few superficial injuries, suffered mainly due to falling luggage and the lurching of the coaches, there was no great harm,” said Debapriya Roy, one of the first non-railway men to reach the site.
Even Jishnu Nandi, loco pilot of the goods train waiting on Line 4 couldn’t believe that passengers would get away with minor bruises after what he witnessed. “I was in my driver’s cabin when there was this loud noise and the dust cloud. I saw the passenger coaches moving towards my train. I immediately grabbed the red flasher and flag and ran forward. Even after the train stopped, I braced myself for what I felt would be tragic scenes,” he said.
The passengers emerged from the derailed coaches, shaken but largely unharmed. Among those who required first aid was Mukesh Kumar from the S1 coach. He had a cut on his forehead that was tended to by medics at the Liluah station.
“We are alright by God’s grace. Passengers hardly got any time to react. Everything happened very fast. Luggage was flung around and passengers were thrown off their seats. A child sitting near me was also hurt. However, the coach remained intact and walls didn’t buckle in like we are used to seeing in other train disasters. We only realized the gravity of the situation after the dust settled. There was some panic after that,” Kumar said.
Kalavati Devi (51) of the S10 coach said that passengers did panic. “The train was moving slowly and there was a sudden jerk and a loud explosion. People were screaming all around. Some said that a bomb had exploded somewhere. The coach was moving in an unnatural manner. Only after we got off the coaches did we realize that we had a narrow escape,” she said.
Though none of the air-conditioned coaches were affected, passengers traveling on them also panicked after feeling the jerk. “It was a severe jerk and then there was dust. We thought it was smoke at first. People were running and shouting outside. We didn’t know what to make of it. Some passengers started panicking as we didn’t know what was happening,” said Abhishek Ghosh, a passenger on the B3 AC-III tier coach.
Poorva Express loco pilot A K Singh refused to say much. “I applied emergency brakes on feeling the jerk. I also saw the loco pilot of the goods train flashing the red light and waving the flag. My seniors will be able to say more,” he said.
The Indian Railways started switching over to non-telescoping coaches a few years ago to prevent deaths and injuries. The non-telescoping coaches don’t topple or get crushed after getting derailed. The LHB coaches – now built in India under licence from the German firm - were first introduced in the Rajdhanis and then in other trains.