Swift action of an alert railway patrolman saved the lives of hundreds of people onboard a Diva-bound train on Thursday. Vikram Samadhan started his duty in the morning at Taloja Panchand and after walking about 5 km, he spotted a fracture in the rail near Kalamboli, Navi Mumbai.

Realising that the Diva-bound train would soon be heading that way, Samadhan ran back 600 metres and set off railway detonators and flagged a red signal to alert the driver of the train, which was just 400 metres away, said railway officials.