Balasore/IBNS: The passengers of a Memu train had a providential escape as the alert loco pilot applied the brake at the nick of time to avert a major accident in Odisha's Nilgiri Road station.

Reports said the driver of the Bhadrak-Kharagpur train Prasant Panda noticed some abnormalities when the train was just moving out of the Nilgiri Road Station.

Had he not halted the train promptly it might have moved into the loop line instead of the main line and an accident similar to the Bahanaga Bazar train tragedy could have occurred.

The incident occurred in the outer area of the station when the train was just rolling out at a low speed. Soon after the loco pilot saw the crossover was in the reverse line, he immediately applied the brake.

The maintenance work on the line was undertaken after some time.

“The train speed was about 7 to 10 km per hour. The green signal was there on the main line. After finding the fault I immediately halted the train," the loco pilot said.

"There could have been some problems during the maintenance of the tracks. Switches could have malfunctioned. The point could have burst had the train moved in the wrong line," Panda said.

The railway authorities have begun an investigation into the lapses.

On June 2, a triple train tragedy in the Bahanaga Bazar station left 294 passengers dead and over 1000 were injured.