G Sakpal spotted the loose fishplate right on time

Nothing escapes rail enthusiast G Sakpal’s eye. The 23-year-old engineer averted a disaster on Monday morning at the Kurla railway station after he spotted that a fishplate on the Harbour line — the metal bar bolted to the ends of two rails to join them together in a track — had come loose.

Although the loosening of the fishplate would not have been a cause for alarm initially, it could have led to a catastrophe after more trains passed over the tracks, explained CR officials.