Birbhum: Passenger train delayed by over an hour after two loco pilots ‘found drunk’

: A passenger train was reportedly delayed by over an hour after two loco pilots were allegedly found drunk at Rampurhat, in Birbhum, on Tuesday evening.

According to sources, on Tuesday around 6 pm, a Howrah-bound passenger train arrived at the Rampurhat Railway Station and a few moments later, it started going towards Howrah. However, after crossing the Rampurhat rail gate, it stopped. A few minutes later, the train suddenly started moving backwards and reached Rampurhat station where it came to a halt. When passengers got down to find out what had happened, they came to know that the two logo pilots were drunk.

The loco pilots were ordered to deboard from their cabin by the staff of the Eastern Railway but the train was detained at Rampurhat as no loco pilots were available at the time. The passengers started agitating over the issue at the ticket counter and after over an hour, a new lock pilot took over and the train started moving towards Howrah.

On Wednesday, when Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of Eastern Railway, Kaushik Mitra was called for a statement regarding the incident, he did not receive the call. He did not even reply to the text message sent to him.