Rocks placed on machines between Tambaram and Sanatorium to leave signals and tracks unchanged.
Picture for representational purpose only.
Chennai: EMU services to and from Tambaram were disrupted for nearly an hour early Thursday after mischievous elements placed rocks on the pointing machines between Tambaram and Sanatorium, leaving the tracks and signals unchanged.
The problem was detected around 9.15 am when a Chengalpet-Beach EMU, which arrived on platform six at Tambaram station, could not be routed to the next track via a suburban platform.
Despite repeated attempts, officials at the control centre in Tambaram station could not make the pointing machines work and divert the train from the existing track to the suburban platform.
Officials grew suspicious, informed the station manager and deputed a scouting team, which found five rocks placed on the pointing system.
Apparently realising that it was intentional, the scouting team informed its superiors, who removed the rocks on arrival. Finally, after a 55-minute delay, the pointing system was put back to work and normal train movement was restored at 10.10 am. In the interim, two Tambaram-bound EMUs from Beach were short terminated at Pallavaram and returned to Beach and three EMUs scheduled to depart from Tambaram were cancelled.
Though some officials tried to dismiss the incident as an act of mischief by school kids in the neighbourhood, a few other officials said the manner in which the rocks were placed indicated the involvement of people familiar with the system.
RPF personnel who began the inquiry also visited a school in the neighbourhood and educated students about the dangers of such mischief. Interestingly, Thursday’s was the third such incident reported on the stretch in the last six months.
( Source : dc )
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