Many a mishap has been averted thanks to alert railway employees, saving not just lives, but damage to property, equipment and other losses. The Central Railway last week felicitated 10 such staffers. Two of those who were awarded for their actions include loco pilot Abhay Goswami and assistant loco pilot Abhishek Kumar from Mumbai. An unusual sound coming from the tracks led Goswami and Kumar to apply emergency brakes and halt their engine to find a broken water pipe under the wheels, which could have derailed them.

“We were shunting engines at Mumbai CSMT yard as our usual duties, when on April 25 at about 10:47am as we were moving close to the platform, an unusual sound came from the rail tracks. Instinctively we braked hard and brought the loco to a halt to find broken pipes protruding from both sides of the track, right onto the path of the engine,” Goswami said.