Peahens crash on train windshield; rail traffic halted

CHENGALPATTU: Commotion ensued near the Melmaruvathur train station when a bunch of peacocks flew into the windshield of a train and cracked the glass on Thursday morning.

The passenger train plying between Tirupathi and Puducherry was nearing Melmaruvathur when several peacocks which were grazing in a nearby field flew into the tracks. Within seconds, a few birds flew into the left side windshield of the train and caused damage.

On noticing this, the driver immediately halted the train and checked to find a peacock dead on the broken windshield. Speaking on this, a railway staff noted, "Usually all the trains are fitted with a grill in front to avoid attacks from vandals.

Unfortunately, this passenger train does not have the grill which resulted in it breaking glass when the bird crashed. Since similar incidents have been reported twice in the recent past, passengers questioned the safety of the trains and requested the railway department to look into it.

The forest department performed an autopsy on the dead bird and found that it was a peahen, which was later buried. Following this incident, all rail traffic to and fro from Chennai and its surrounding districts were affected for an hour causing frustration among college students and office goers.