Odisha: Railways suspends 2 loco pilots for driving through open crossing

The East Coast Railways (ECoR) on Saturday suspended two of its loco pilots for ignoring signal and driving through the Matiapada Level Crossing in Puri, while the gates of the level crossing were open.

The incident took place at Sidhha Mahavir level crossing in Puri at around 7.25 am on Saturday.

According to ECoR, the Loco Pilot Govind Sahu and Assistant Loco Pilot Umesh Kumar were suspended from their duties.

Images of train movement from data logger were taken and it was observed that the train stopped for one minute and fifty seconds at the gate before crossing it in open condition. Ideally, the loco pilot and the assistant loco pilot should have waited till the gate was closed.

An investigation has also been ordered against the gateman, who allegedly failed to close the level crossing gate

He allegedly placed two red flags but did not close the gate when Puri-Hatia-Puri Tapaswini Express train was passing.