Agartala-Sabroom passenger train narrowly escapes accident after hitting stone-laden trolley

The Agartala-Sabroom local passenger train narrowly escaped from a major accident on Saturday after hitting a stone-laden trolley, which was mistakenly left by the workers on the single line track. No one was hurt in the accident.

Official sources said that when the local passenger train was on its way from Agartala to Sabroom the train reached Gautam Nagar area of Bishalgarh under Sepahijala district around 12-00 in the afternoon. A railway trolley loaded with stone chips had been standing on the same track by which the train was proceeding. By the time the train reached the spot it was too late to stop the train that crashed with the loaded trolley.

However, the trolley got stuck in the train and a front wheel of the train engine went off the track. At the time of the incident, around 1,000 passengers were on board.

According to a passenger, the train departed from Agartala railway station to go to Sabroom and the train suddenly stopped and jolted after colliding with the trolley causing a panic among the passengers.

He said, following the collision, as the train came to a halt, passengers hurriedly disembarked from the train.

Railway officials, Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel arrived at the spot after the accident. Agitated passengers said that the incident shed light on the "negligence" of both the workers, supervisors and the station master of the Bishalgarh railway station and reflected callousness and negligence of duty on the part of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) of Tripura staff. Passengers raised questions regarding safety protocols and the reasons behind leaving stone-laden trolleys on the rail tracks during train operations.

Later, RPF personnel managed to clear the line and the train moved towards Sabroom.