‘I crashed a train at 97 kmph’

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It was just a simulator, a machine used to train drivers, but Tapan Joshi still came out shaken and stirred
By Tapan Joshi
Posted On Sunday, May 03, 2009
The April 29 train collision in Chennai, which killed four people and injured 11, was yet another addition to the lengthy list of train mishaps in India. To comprehend the stress faced by train drivers, I decided to get a first-hand experience of life inside a railway engine.I landed up at the engine drivers’ training centre in Sabarmati, along with colleague Yogesh Avasthi and photographer Dilip Thaker, to drive a train.
Yes, I drove a train, ‘killed’ stray cattle on the tracks, jumped red lights, blew away a motorist near the signal and ‘crashed’ the train near Ahmedabad railway station. I have survived to narrate my story.
Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=Columnists%20-%20Sunday%20Read&sectid=26&contentid=20090503200905030230177928fd0ecd8

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