Runaway train in India travels more than 40 miles without driver

The train eventually was brought to a stop after chugging along without a driver for an hour and a half. Credit: CNN

A runaway freight train in northern India managed to travel almost 45 miles without a driver before being brought to a stop.

Hitting speeds of up to 46 miles per hour, the train's adventure has since gone viral on social media, with videos showing it speeding along tracks near a station platform.

No-one was injured by the train and it was eventually stopped using emergency brakes and placing stones on the track, preventing a major accident, according to rail officials.

The train rolled uninterrupted for around an hour and a half.

Footage on social media proports to show the unoccupied train barreling past a station platform

Prateek Srivastava, director for the Ministry of Railways in Jammu and Kashmir, told CNN: “Due to reasons unknown, the (locomotive) pilot and the assistant pilot got off. As soon as they left, the train started rolling down. They could not get on to it.”

The train was eventually diverted onto a path with an uphill gradient, said Srivastava. “We knew gravity would help us,” he added.

At least four people have been suspended following an inquiry into the incident, and a high-level investigation is currently underway at Kathua Railway Station, where the train set off from.

The train hit speeds of up to 46 miles per hour while rolling without a driver. Credit: CNN

Has this happened before?

In April 2018, a runaway train carrying up to 1,000 passengers rolled for several miles before being brought to an emergency stop.

Video on social media shows the train, which was traveling from the western state of Gujarat to Odisha state in the east, speeding past stations as onlookers and passengers screamed helplessly.

The train was eventually stopped after railway workers placed wooden wedges on the tracks, bringing it to a crunching halt.

None of the estimated 1,000 passengers were injured in the incident and the train reached its final destination two hours behind schedule.

India’s extensive rail network, one of the largest in the world, was built more than 160 years ago under British colonial rule. Today, it runs about 11,000 trains every day over 67,000 miles of tracks in the world’s most populous nation.

In June last year, India suffered one of its deadliest ever rail disasters, when two passenger trains and a freight train collided in Odisha state, killing at least 275 people and injuring more than 1,000.

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