Southern Railway rewards Motorman who flagged safety issue in March

Southern Railway has dropped departmental action contemplated against motorman K. Karunakaran, who flagged a major safety issue between Ambattur and Avadi railway stations here on March 5, 2026, and rewarded him for the good work, sources in the zonal headquarters said.

The motorman’s name was also recommended for an award at the Railway Board level. On the day of the incident, Mr. Karunakaran stopped his train, despite the signal giving clearance to proceed, after seeing two other trains parked on the same track. He photographed the scene and alerted his superior officers about the safety issue.

The signal failure was rectified and normal train services resumed. Investigators held the motorman “blameworthy” for exceeding the permissible speed limit. The All India Loco Running Staff Association had represented to the railway authorities to drop action against Mr. Karunakaran as he had done his best in the dynamic situation.

A multi-departmental inquiry, comprising senior railway officers drawn from different departments, confirmed the signal failure. Further inquiry revealed that the particular automatic signal (S192) had failed multiple times but was reset by a local signal department technician without following the standard operating procedure. A few other automatic signals had also failed in recent times but were reset with no investigation conducted to analyse the root cause.

The inquiry committee gave a set of recommendations on the safety front. The railway officers who examined the sequence of events, circumstances that led to the incident, and technical evidence called for launching a safety drive in Chennai Division. They said the Station Masters should be counselled about the rule position in resetting the multi-section digital axle counter (MASDAC) while restoring signal failures. Since the failure buzzer that alerted the Station Master of signal failures was found disconnected on March 5, 2026, the committee wanted the authorities concerned to check and ensure the functioning of the same.

To avoid opening of the relay room randomly by the signal technicians for resetting, a double lock arrangement was recommended for access control. The diagnostic panels in MSDAC huts should be made failsafe, the report said.

The Chennai Division accepted the recommendations and directed the departments concerned to take necessary action, the sources said. There was no response from the Southern Railway spokesperson to questions sent by The Hindu on the inquiry committee’s recommendations and the reward given to the whistleblower motorman.