Title - Railway guard spots crack on track, averts possible disaster

CHENNAI: A possible disaster was averted when a railway guard spotted a crack on the loop track near Arakkonam station, 70km from Chennai, on Thursday. Thanks to his warning, the Trivandrum-Chennai Express train, which was hardly a kilometre from the spot, was halted at Mosur, the nearest railway station. The crack was about seven inches wide, officials said.Around 6.40am, Rahamathualla, a guard on the Mysore-Chennai Shatabdi Express, spotted the crack and alerted station master S Ethirajulu of Arakkonam. Soon, officials in other stations and the Southern Railway headquarters in Chennai were informed and the Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force alerted. Many trains, Yelagiri Express, Barauni Express, Tirupati-Chennai passenger and at least six suburban trains, were stopped at Mosur railway station (nearest station from Arakkonam). A team of railway staff, including engineers and gangmen, reached the spot and the fractured portion was welded into place. Train services resumed around 9.45am.Engineers later said a seven-inch crack could cause a derailment. Expansion of cracks is common during intermittent hot and cold weather , they said.Railway officials said the crack could have widened under pressure. Once train services resumed on the sector, motormen were asked to go at a speed of less than 30kmph between Arakkonam and Tiruvalamkadu stations to help the fractured portion settle. Some also wondered how checks by staff had missed the crack. "This is the first time such a wide crack has been spotted on the Arakkonam sector. Had the guard not spotted it, it could have been a disaster," said a railway official.In February, a gangman noticed a fracture on the track between Maraimalai Nagar and Singaperumal Koil stations and, stopped a Chennai-bound express train minutes before it was to cross the stretch. In March 2011, a Class five student noticed a fracture on the track between Padalam and Karunkuzhali stations near Madurantakam in Kancheepuram and alerted officials.