Stone pelting at trains continues unabated

In November 2016, an assistant loco pilot of Coimbatore bound intercity express (Train No: 12679) sustained cut injuries after a stone pelted by miscreants breached the wind shield and hit him then. Worse, the injured crew piloted the train carrying nearly 2,000 people on board at a peak velocity of 110kmph with its vision compromised from Arakkonam to Coimbatore.

In a similar incident reported between Arakkonam and Katpadi in April 2016, a loco pilot of a Bengaluru-bound train was injured. Pertinently, the incidents were reported, courtesy the injuries sustained by the loco pilots, while many stone pelting incidents go unnoticed. 

Notably, no major legal follow up was made possible by either government railway police or Railway protection force after the two incidents. The miscreants were found to be tipplers or college and school students doing it for the fun of it. 

Railways has also noticed a marginal rise in such incidents when they crack down on transgenders and beggars on board trains elsewhere in the division. The regularity of such incidents could be easily made out from a simple glance at windows of Shatabdi and AC coaches of express trains, most of which, would bear scars or precisely cracks caused by stone pelting. 

When contacted, Senior Divisional Safety Commissioner, Chennai railway division, K K Ashraff, who confirmed the Kachegude express attack, said they have identified 10 places as most prone to such stone pelting incidents and have sought the help of local police as they have better presence than RPF.

Admitting that the miscreants were mostly tipplers and students and the attacks were unplanned ones happening at far off places, Ashraff said the tracks were not walled and they have set up informers and sought the help of residents to prevent future attacks.