HYDERABAD, Dec 3: A possible train mishap was averted on down country railway track behind the shrine of Ameer Shah Bukhari in the Latifabad area here on Monday as residents found a 4-inch piece of track had been damaged.

Nuts of fishplates on one side of the piece of track were found loose while the other side had no nuts either.

The residents immediately informed police helpline about the damaged track. Police arrived at the venue of the damaged track and called the railway’s key-man from Latifabad unit-7 railway crossing.

The key-man informed the Hyderabad railway station authorities who asked train drivers not to run trains on the track beyond the speed of 10 kilometres per hour. The normal speed of a train is 90 kilometres per hour.

Later, the railway’s permanent ways inspector Adil Hussain examined the damaged track. According to him, the size of the damaged piece of track was around four inches. He had no explanation as to how nuts or fishplate were missing or loose so much so that they could easily be removed.

Later, railway workers started repairing the damaged piece of track.

First train that passed on the said track at a speed of 10km per hour was Fareed Express as by then the damaged piece was not repaired.