Yercaud Express With 3 Madras HC Judges Onboard Escapes Derailment; Sabotage Attempt Fails, Disaster Averted

A suspected attempt to derail the Erode-Chennai Central Yercaud Superfast Express (Train No. 22650) was foiled late Tuesday night near Magudanchavadi railway station in Tamil Nadu's Salem district. The train, carrying three judges of the Madras High Court along with two retired judges, escaped major disaster after miscreants allegedly placed a metal obstruction on the tracks.

Who Are The Madras HC Judges?

Justices N Sathish Kumar, G K Ilanthiraiyan and Krishnan Ramasamy and retired judges K Kalyanasundaram and M Govindaraj had were travelling in the train and they boarded the train in Erode. A source told The Times of India: "They were returning to Chennai after paying their last respects to senior advocate V K Muthusamy who died a few days ago. Muthusamy is the father of Supreme Court judge Justice M M Sundresh."

Incident Details

The Yercaud Express departed Erode Junction at 9:01 p.m. and was passing through Kaligoundampalayam in the Sankari block when it struck a 10-foot-long iron rod-suspected to be a piece of railway track-around 9:45 p.m. The collision caused the locomotive to drag the heavy metal for nearly 300 metres, severely damaging the engine.

Despite the impact, all passengers, including the three judges, remained unharmed. However, the brake lining of the engine jammed, leaving the train immobilized.

"We got down and checked. We found an iron bar under the engine," TOI quoted a loco pilot as saying.

Swift Response and Delayed Journey

Upon stopping, the loco pilots inspected the engine and discovered the iron rod lodged beneath it. Authorities, including the Salem Railway Division, Railway Protection Force (RPF), and local police, were immediately alerted and rushed to the scene.

A replacement engine was dispatched from Erode, and after clearing the obstruction, the train resumed its journey at 11:45 p.m.-over two hours behind schedule. The Yercaud Express reached Salem Junction with a 2-hour, 19-minute delay and finally arrived at MGR Chennai Central at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, running 3 hours and 50 minutes late. The disruption also affected several other train services.

Investigation Underway

Police have launched a manhunt to identify the perpetrators, while railway officials have initiated an internal inquiry to assess security lapses and prevent future sabotage attempts.

Authorities have urged the public to report any suspicious activity near railway tracks as investigations continue."We have visited several residences near the railway track as part of the inquiry," a police officer at the Salem railway junction told the English daily.