Boulder found on Rail track near Perundurai

ERODE: For the sixth time in a year, a boulder was found on railway track between Perundurai and Uthukuli section on Wednesday. Fortunately, the boulder was smashed by a goods train which crossed the spot near Perundurai railway station.

It is said that while a goods train was proceeding from Chennai to Angamali in Kerala, engine driver Saravanan saw four persons, clad in lungis, standing 1 km away from the track at 6.10 am. At that time, the train was crossing Perundurai.

Saravanan, who grew suspicious, slowed down the train. However, it smashed a boulder which was half metre in height. Fortunately, the train did not face any problem, while the persons escaped from the scene. Later, he informed the Perundurai RS police station.

SP T Jayachandran, Perundurai DSP Subramaniam, Chennimalai inspector Raju, railway police inspector Ajithkumar and officials visited the spot and held an inquiry. The SP said that he did not find any boulder of in the area as stated by the driver. The police, however, secured four north Indians near Vijayamangalam on suspicion and interrogated them.

The officials said they did not see any conspiracy for derailment behind the incident. They asserted that only small stones were kept and not boulders. Meanwhile, some persons complained about a stone pelting incident on Intercity Express near Uthukuli station.

Police sources in Erode said that following repeated incidents, the ‘Q’ branch police were holding inquiries in nearby villages for the past few days. They noted that so far two policemen had died as trains hit them while on bandobust duty on the tracks. Usually, the gangmen were experts in analysing the tracks and the movement of trains. As the cops have no in-depth knowledge in such things, they were killed in the mishaps, they noted.