Madhya Pradesh: Shatabdi Exp hits camel, stranded for 2 hours

Morena (Madhya Pradesh): A camel collided with a Shatabdi Express train, keeping the latter stranded for two hours in Morena district about 10 kilometers away from the city on Saturday morning.

Though the locopilot failed to save the camel, he managed to avert a major accident.

The body parts of the camel got stuck in the luggage brake and generator car behind the engine as it walked on to the track near Hetampur railway station in front of the Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi Express, headed towards the state capital.

The camel was cut into pieces as it came in contact with the speeding train, said inspector Harikesh Meena of the Railway Protection Force.

It took around two hours to remove the animal's body parts from the engine, and the train later left for the destination, he said.

The pilot tried to sway the camel blowing the train’s horns but to no avail. By the time the train would have come to a halt, the camel’s body parts were already strangled into the train parts.

The engine of the train was damaged following the collision. A new engine was brought from Gwalior to replace the damaged engine.

The accident caused problems to five other long-route trains too.

A case has been registered in this regard and further investigation is underway, he added.

The train was passing through the ravines of Chambal after crossing the Chambal Rail Bridge after leaving Dhaulpur station at the scheduled time to reach Rani Kamlapati Railway Station in Bhopal.

Punjab Mail Express was delayed by 4 hours 50 minutes, Mangala Express by 2 hours, Chhattisgarh Express by 1 hour 20 minutes and Taj and Khajuraho Intercity trains were delayed by one hour each.

The accident had blocked the uptrack on the route. By afternoon, the uptrack was back to normal.

The entire staff of the Railway department, including the general manager of North Central Railway, was present in Morena to inspect the Gwalior-Sheopur railway track, which is being converted from a small rail line to a big one.