Maharashtra: drum with stones on railway track; train driver applies emergency brakes

The driver of Mumbai-Secunderabad Devgiri Express applied emergency brakes after spotting a drum, which was later found to be filled with stones, on the railway track in Maharashtra’s Jalna district in the early hours of Friday, an official said.

The train was between Satona and Osmanpur stations in Partur tehsil when the incident took place around 4 am, he said. The stretch falls in the Nanded division of the South Central Railway (SCR).

The loco pilot used the emergency brakes to bring the train to a halt. After being informed about a drum in the middle of the track, personnel from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) reached the spot, said Rajesh Shinde, public relations officer for SCR’s Nanded division.

The drum was found to be filled with stones, the official said. The obstruction was cleared and the train was allowed to travel further, he said.

The railway police have registered a case, and no arrests have been made yet, he said.

The incident comes nearly a month after three trains collided in Odisha's Balasore district, claiming more than 280 lives and injuring over 1,000 people.