Runaway high speed ‘ghost train’ travels 43 miles without a driver thundering through stations at 62mph
An investigation has been launched in India after a driverless freight train traveled more than 70 km (43 miles) at a speed of almost 100 km per hour (62 mph).
One video on social media, taken by an onlooker, shows the runaway freight train zooming past a station.
Despite the railways confirming the train had been stopped and no one was injured, the shocking video has raised safety concerns.
It drove without a driver all the way from Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir to Hoshiarpur district in Punjab.
It was a 53-car train carrying chipstones, and reports said a crisis was averted after officials placed wooden blocks on the track in front, slowing the train down.
An investigation has been launched in India after a freight train traveled more than 70 km at high speed without a driver
After switching from the runaway train, officials also closed all railroad crossings in their path.
The Press Trust of India (PTI) revealed that the incident reportedly took place between 7:25 am and 9:00 am local time.
The ghost train traveled at a speed of almost 100 km per hour through five stations before finally coming to a stop in Uchi Bassi.
Officials explained that the driver had stopped the train at Pathankot station where a crew change was to take place.
However, when the driver and his assistant left the train, the handbrake was not applied, causing the train to start moving along the inclined track. NDTV reports.
The Indian news channel also announced this Officials are trying to identify any safety issues to prevent this from happening again.
They said: “The exact reason for the incident is yet to be established.”
One of the videos of the incident was reposted to the X account (formerly Twitter). @gunsnrosesgirl3and has already been viewed more than 100,000 times.
One video on social media, taken by an onlooker, shows the runaway freight train zooming past a station
One person replied: ‘Oh thank God everyone is safe’, while a second added: ‘I hope no one got hurt’.
Another shocked user wondered: ‘How did they stop THAT?’
A similar case occurred in 2018 when another runaway train in India, with about a thousand terrified passengers on board, began moving backwards over six miles after becoming separated from the engine.
The train consisted of 22 coaches and could be seen traveling downhill through a station in the town of Titlagarh, Balangir District, Odisha State, Eastern India.
According to local media, the track was only stopped when brave railway workers used stones to block the track.
Remarkably, no one was injured in the shocking incident.
However, last year 288 people died and 900 were injured in India after the world’s deadliest train disaster in two decades.
In Balasore, Odisha, eastern India, two passenger trains collided in June 2023, derailing carriages full of people.