There are times, when the hands of fate work like mysterious clockwork, directing a deadly disaster, but then; at the last moment, they withdraw, leaving in plain sight of us mortals what Fate (Read Nature) can do if disturbed.
17th December 2011 will remain etched in my memory as the day this sleepy town of Lumding could have been witness to one of the biggest catastrophes in its foggy history.
It was a normal wintry morning that day. The sun was rather reluctant to peek out of the clouds, and there being a thin blanket of fog about, I found it rather hard to leave the confines of the bed and get ready for office. Still, after much deliberations (it being the last day before the weekend), I convinced my reluctant mind. I reached my desk at 0840 Hours, exactly 40 minutes late than the “official” time.
The first thing I noticed through the window was this empty POL BTPN Rake* which we had decanted the afternoon before. It was still lying idle inside the Terminal premises, meaning the Railways hadn’t lifted it yet. And that irked my mind. I couldn’t place an exact reason why, but it was irritating all the same. I got a repeat confirmation from the security officer that no Loco had come to recover the Rake.
“Well, so that be it!”
In understaffed POL Terminals like ours, It doesn’t take long to take one’s mind off a matter of engagement and then engage it in other activities. For the next three hours, I completely forgot about everything else as I went about the daily work schedules.
It must have been around 1230 Hours that I noticed the empty rake had started showing some movement, slowing deactivating its air brakes. At 1300 Hours, it finally started on its way, picking speed as its wheels pushed mercilessly on the old steel rails. 15 seconds later, there was one resounding noise wave that travelled all across the 49 Wagons and the Rake came to a deadly, screeching halt.
It difficult to exactly explain the silence that followed. Confusion ensued, with many heads pouring in many enlightened answers to the occurrence.
It later required a 2 minute call to the control room at Lumding Divisional Headquarters to know the whole story:
At 1300 Hours, 15928 Down DBRT-KYQ (Dibrugarh Kamakhya) Express was on halt at Lumding Junction. The Guard of the train, after getting confirmation from the control room, gave the Go-Ahead to its Driver. The Train started, riding down the plateau on which the station is built and gained its full working speed.
Meanwhile, the driver who waited with his WDG3 LOCO to lift the empty BTPN had also heard the Go-Ahead on his VHF Set. Instead of waiting for another confirmation or the mandatory written communication from the Cabin Control, he too started pulling out the Rake, putting both the Trains on straight collision course. A passenger train at breakneck speed, full with people perhaps eagerly waiting to reach their homes for the weekend, and the heavy duty BTPN. Many a heart must have stopped beating in the Railway control at that moment.
Miraculous as fate is, the P-Man at cabin control had not made the branch line to our terminal through for movement. After a 15 second walk into disaster, the Engine derailed from that fateful path.
It was later recovered 5 hours later, and this time, everything went clockwork, just like usual.
A big catastrophe was averted that day. But our hearts still jump with the thought of what could have happened and didn’t.
Perhaps there really is this mysterious force working behind the scenes, directing the drama, be it God, or be it the Higgs-Boson. Life is only when it exists, and the true honour; it lies only in death.
-Palash
(December 2011)
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