The presence of mind of a driver of an oil tanker train averted a major tragedy at the Noonmati Railway line in Guwahati on Sunday.

As per reports, huge cracks had developed at the railway tracks of the Noonmati rail line which heads from the highway towards the Guwahati Refinery. Fortunately, the train’s driver detected the cracks on the tracks just before the train reached the spot. The driver immediately halted the train and reached out to the concerned authorities regarding the issue.

The train was halted at the spot for over an hour. Due to this, vehicular movement towards Chandmari and Narengi also came to a standstill which led to huge traffic congestion on the road.

The railway authorities reached the spot about an hour later and repaired the portion of the defective railway track. The train then safely entered the refinery. Vehicular movement also continued right after this.  

Speaking on the issue, an official of the Railway Department said, “This wasn’t an incident to worry about. There was a minor fracture on the railway track of the Noonmati railway line which has been repaired as of now. This is a separate IOC railway line. The main line was not affected due to this incident. Guwahati and Lumding bound passenger trains were running without being hampered. It was only the general public who suffered as vehicular movement on both sides of the track was snapped.”