Woman Drives Car On Railway Track Near Hyderabad, Train Traffic Disrupted

A woman drove a car on a railway track on the city outskirts on Thursday morning, causing disruption to train services, police said. She drove the car at Shankarpally here for about eight kilometres.

The woman, who appeared to be mentally disturbed, tried to confront police personnel when she stopped the car. However, police managed to overpower her and sent her for medical tests, a police official said.

The woman, identified as Ravika Soni, a software engineer from Lucknow, was recently terminated from her job in Hyderabad and is reportedly battling depression.

Witnesses said she threatened locals with a knife when they attempted to intervene. A disaster was narrowly averted when a train halted just in time upon spotting her vehicle on the tracks.

The railway police would register a case, the official said. Citing preliminary information, railway sources said two goods trains and equal number of passenger trains were disrupted for about 20 minutes.

Authorities are now investigating whether she was mentally unstable or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, with medical tests underway. Though no formal charges have been filed yet, the railway police have launched a probe, and her family has been notified.