In what may be called a narrow escape, the entire team of the Konkan Railway's heads of departments and the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), who were on special inspection on Tuesday, barely missed derailment near Pen station, where a weld fracture was discovered after their train had passed.

It should be recalled here that a similar weld crack had derailed a Sawantwadi train on May 3, leading to over 20 deaths and several casualties.

The senior Konkan Railway officials were cruising in a special inspection train that was being followed by the Mumbai-Madgaon Mandovi Express, which departs Mumbai CST at 7:10am. They were on their annual inspection to decide on certain safety regulations to be put in place in the Konkan Railway section as it passes through difficult terrain.

An agile gangman of Konkan Railway was the first who spotted the crack and stopped the Mandovi Express. "The Mandovi Express was stopped in time by alert gangman Krishna Jaku Jadhav, after he detected a fracture on the tracks at around 9:40am, about 110km from CST," informed CR spokesperson.