Alipurduar: Passengers at New Alipurduar station under the Northeast Frontier Railway witnessed a dramatic incident early Friday morning after a specially-abled youth climbed a high-voltage (25,000-volt) overhead electric tower, triggering panic and halting train services.
The incident occurred around 5 am, prompting railway authorities to immediately switch off the overhead power supply on both up and down lines to avert a possible accident. Train movement came to a standstill, leaving several long-distance trains, including the Kanchanjunga Express and Teesta Torsa Express, stranded.
Personnel from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) attempted to persuade the youth to come down but failed. The fire brigade was later called in, and after nearly two hours of effort, he was safely rescued without injuries.
Local sources said the youth is believed to be from a tribal community. Train services, which remained disrupted for a considerable period, have since returned to normal.
The youth has been taken into GRP custody for questioning.However, his identity has not yet been ascertained.
GRP Officer-in-Charge Satyendra Pal said: “We were initially taken aback by the situation. A major accident could have occurred at any moment. However, we managed to rescue him safely, though train services were affected for
some time.”