Narrow escape for Pathankot-Delhi Express in Punjab

Jalandhar (Punjab), Jan 17 (IANS) Hundreds of passengers of the Pathankot-Delhi Express train had a lucky escape Saturday as it was stopped by applying emergency brakes, barely 100 metres away from a stationary engine near here.

A head-on collision between the passenger train and the engine, which was on a shunting job, was avoided by a whisker after both came on the same track near the Phillaur railway station near Jalandhar.

'The Pathankot-Delhi Express train was going towards Ludhiana and suddenly came on the same track as that of the stationary engine. The train does not have a permanent stop at Phillaur but it came to a sudden halt as it was shown red signal,' said a railway official.

'The engine was then put on another track to make way for the train to pass.'