By Apurva Bhatt
The railways will introduce the much required Automatic braking for local trains in a week in both the Central and Western lines to avoid the Sunday morning mishap. At present, the AWS provides the motorman with advanced warning of an upcoming signal via a display on the driving panel.
The system works by using trackside electromagnets. On Sunday morning, a fast local from Bhayander hit the buffer at the end of platform No 3 at Churchgate and crossed onto the concourse before stopping. As per a preliminary inquiry report, the motorman, L S Tiwari, suffered a "momentary diversion", meaning lapse in attention, as he may have been engaged in an activity like packing his bags, and missed the point at which he was supposed to apply the brakes. The point is 200 meters from the buffer.
"He may not have been looking ahead, with his eyes and mind elsewhere. This led to confusion and ultimately failure to apply the brakes at the right time, leading to the mishap," said an official.
He said the chances of technical error were negligible as the breaking system and all other systems on the train worked well just a kilometre before Churchgate. The official did not deny the possibility of "mental tension or exhaustion".
Railway minister Suresh Prabhu has ordered a high-level inquiry into the mishap. The restoration work on platform number 3, where the mishap occurred, took 23 hours to complete, affecting services during the morning peak hour on Monday.
