It was with a bit of trepidation that I received a call late in the morning on Wednesday. “There has been an EMU derailment at Tiruvallur,” the caller said and hung up. My daughter was taking the Lalbagh Express to Bengaluru, departing 15.30 hrs from Chennai Central. I quickly checked the NTES site and found that the incoming train had arrived on time.
“The Medical Relief Van has also been ordered to be sent to the site,” said the same grumpy hurried voice. More than my daughter’s trip, I was worried, fearing the accident could be a bit serious, given that the MRV has been ordered.
I tried reaching out to a few people – understandably, they were all on their feet and not taking calls. Getting help to the accident spot was their primary objective.
The Self-Propelled Accident Relief Train (SPART) was readied and waiting to leave. The station higher-ups got a quick set of crew to work this train. The time between the first call for relief and the time when the SPART was signalled to depart was around 20 minutes – a really good indicator of readiness for any unforeseen eventuality.
The signal that was taken off was reverted to red and the SPART was asked to stay put at Chennai Central. An official explained that It was a mock drill to check the readiness of the relief train, crew, technical staff, etc.
Later on, reaching out to officials, RailPost figured out that the drill was indeed very successful. All the parameters for a quick response were met, and some were bettered. “The requirement for relief trains to be ready for dispatch is 25 minutes at terminal stations and 20 at non-terminal stations – Chennai Central did it in about 18 minutes,” informed an officer who wished to remain anonymous.
Another official lauded the quick response adding, “a loco pilot who was arriving on a train after working for about 7 hours was drafted and was ready to drive the SPART to the accident site.”
At the end of the day, drills like these keep officials and staff on their toes and test the team for preparedness. These also help identify and overcome small chinks in the armour that can be the difference between life and death on an accident site.
Well, also at the end of the day, my daughter boarded the Lalbagh right at our doorstep at Perambur and made it to Bengaluru safely!