Mangaluru: It was a miracalous escape for more than 1,000 passengers on board Kannur/Karwar-Bengaluru Express when the train engine brushed past a boulder and skidded off track after the loco pilot applied emergency brakes on Monday early morning near Sakleshpur.

Two years ago, a broken rail on the ghat had resulted in derailment of the same train. Two engines, two general class coaches and one sleeper coach came off the track and remained short of falling near Arebetta between Shiribagilu and Yedakumeri stations at 2.10 a.m. Luckily There were no injuries or casualties. About 150 metres of the track that had been damaged was restored by 9.50 a.m., after which train operations resumed.

Loco pilot G. Shivaraman, attached to the Mysuru depot of South Western Railway, was both lucky and the saviour for the second time – because he was alert.

Mr. Shivaraman was piloting Train No. 16518/16524 Kannur/Karwar-Bengaluru Express from Mangaluru Central towards Bengaluru early on Monday morning, when he noticed the boulder just besides the track on the ghat section.

The train was moving at the permissible speed limit of 30 kmph on the relatively flatter gradient of the ghat. Mr. Shivaraman applied the emergency brakes and the engine brushed past the boulder. Due to the impact, both engines as well as another following general class coach derailed.

Back in December 2013, Mr. Shivaraman had a similar experience while piloting the same train from Bengaluru towards Mangaluru. He noticed broken rails between Kadagaravalli and Yedakumeri in the night and applied the emergency brakes. That time too the train got derailed, but without any casualties.

“Though the boulder was on the side of the track, it was not possible for the train to pass through and hence, I applied the brakes,” Mr. Shivaraman, who was being assisted by assistant loco pilot Santosh Kumar, told an english daily.

Mysuru Divisional Railway Manager Raj Kumar Lal said a major mishap would have occurred if the pilot was not attentive. Mr. Shivaraman has been piloting trains for 33 years.

The derailment spot was far away from the mainland and was almost inaccessible by road. The intact coaches were hauled down the Ghat to Subrahmanya Road station by the back engine, and the train was diverted via Mangaluru Junction and Palakkad to Bengaluru. This was done within two hours by South Western Railway (SWR), said Titus Antony Peris Bhatt, a PG student travelling to Mysuru. Train no. 16517/16523, that left Bengaluru on Sunday night, was terminated at Sakleshpur.