Guwahati: New Delhi-Dibrugarh Up Rajdhani Express ran over two elephants near Bokajan in Assam between Dimapur and Khatkhati railway stations in Lumding Division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Monday night prompting the railway authorities to institute an inquiry into the incident.
The NFR chief spokesman, PJ Sharma informed that the enquiry committee comprised of three senior railway officials and a representative of Assam Forest Department.
The General Manager of the NFR, Chahatey Ram ordered formation of the enquiry committee following after discussion with the Minister of State for Railway Rajen Gohain. The minister termed the accident unfortunate and assured to take all preventive steps to avoid such incidents in future based on the enquiry report.
Two female elephants of a herd aged about 5 years and 15 years dashed against the Dibrugarh-bound Rajdhani Express about four kilometres from Dimapur railway station (about 264 km from Guwahati) at around 12.25 am in the morning while trying to cross the railway track.
Soon after the accident, Up Rajdhani Express was brought back to Dimapur and other trains in the section were stopped at different stations. The track was cleared at 4.25 am on Tuesday after which normal train movement resumed.
The Railway official informed that the train was running well within the permissible speed limit of 100 Kmph.
However, owing to the huge momentum of a moving train, it is not possible to stop a train even after sighting elephants on track.
