A Sealdah-bound local train was stalled for around 30 minutes at Madhyamgram station in North 24 Parganas district on Sunday afternoon because of ‘signal failure’, said railway officials.
Being a Sunday, the Bongaon-Sealdah Local that usually is packed with passengers from the northern fringes, was less crowded.
Railway officials said the magnitude of the impact of the signal failure would have been manifold had it happened on a weekday.
The train was static at the station between 12.30pm and 1pm after which the fault could be rectified.
Railway officials said the automated system that alerts the train movements approaching a station had apparently malfunctioned, forcing them to turn it into manual mode for sometime.
Train services on the line esumed after 1.15pm, railway officials said.
Elephant carcass found from Maharajaghat paddy field
The carcass of a wild tusker was found from a paddy field in Maharajaghat under Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri on the fringes of Baikunthapur forest division on Sunday morning.
“Some local residents spotted the carcass in the field and informed us. Our men went to the spot and recovered it. Vets have been called for post-mortem,” said a state forest department official. “Apparently, there is no external injury in the elephant’s carcass. We suspect a case of electrocution but can confirm it only after we get the post-mortem report,” he added.
In Rajganj block, elephant depredation in villages on the fringes of the forests is common.
On a number of occasions, the elephants enter human habitats, damaging crops and hutments and sometimes attacking people.
There have been incidents when elephants have died of electrocution as the local residents laid live wires along their fields to prevent elephants from entering their areas.
Our Correspondent
