The Railway Men - The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984

We'll do the rest tomorrow, Lata.

-Go to bed now. -Okay, ma'am.

Hello, Rajeshwari Janglay here.

This is Rati Pandey, ma'am.

Yes, Rati-ji, tell me, what's the matter?

It's about the Railways, ma'am. I wouldn't have called otherwise.

Look, if it's about your job, let me be very clear,

I may be a Director General, but I'm not above the minister.

Ma'am, I'll serve my notice period and get out of here.

The department can then operate without my interference.

There's been an incident.

A big one.

At Bhopal Junction.

-What happened? Collision? Derailment? -No.

A gas leak at the chemical factory in Old Bhopal.

We haven't been able to contact Bhopal Junction in two hours.

That would mean that the staff is not in a state to operate the station.

At the moment Bhopal Junction has disappeared from the railway map.

And a thousand on the Gorakhpur Express are heading towards their death.

Oh, my God!

And, ma'am, my extramarital affair

with the Railway Board and Ministry is over.

No one will take my call.

-Where are you? -At Itarsi Junction.

Ma'am, please contact the Ministry.

Manpower, medical supplies, we need all the help we can get.

We really need to resume operations immediately.

I can coordinate from here.

Let me talk to them, Rati. Stand by.

Thank you.

Don't do anything until then.

Yeah.

This is Rajeshwari Janglay, DG Personnel.

Connect me to the Minister.

Your kind attention please.

-Ashok-ji. -Sir?

Alert the Railways hospital.

Get their entire supply of atropine and Visine here.

Okay, sir.

-Constable sahab. -Yes, sir?

Oxygen cylinders and oxygen masks, if they are not in use, bring them here.

-Yes, sir. -And, Uncle-ji.

Every employee in Itarsi,

especially doctors, must be at the platform in half an hour.

On duty, off duty, everyone.

Wake them up if they are sleeping. Get them here when they are up.

Shall we? Let's go, come on.

Come on.

It's on the outskirts of Bhaironpur. I'm sure you didn't check there.

You aren't a Sikh, motherfucker!

Why are you sacrificing your life for no reason?

Brother, can't we call the police for help?

Ma'am, we don't have a wireless.

We'll have to deboard and connect the wired telephone.

They're gonna die for sure, Guard! Save your own life!

Open the door, old man!

Scumbags, you better save yourselves!

Grandpa, catch a breath first!

This train is about to reach Bhopal Station.

The Railway Protection Force will be waiting there to welcome you, bastards!

-Brother, these fuckers won't listen. -Then break the door.

Harder!

Why so shy, doll?

Step aside, ma'am!

It's a fuckin' boy.

Ma'am, hold on to something.

It's okay. Don't worry.

You two get out this way. Go on. Leave.

Come on, hurry up. Quick.

Take that, you fucking goon!

Come on, hurry up. Let's get out of here.

Did someone pull the chain?

Mileage. Mileage!

The lines don't seem to be working. Our luck is rotten!

-Look around. Shout if you see them. -Okay, Shandilya bhaiya.

Who died?

What? Hey, hey… Guard sahab, who are they?

They are Sikhs.

There were rioters on the train, so I had to stop it.

God saved us, and so did you.

What can we do by ourselves? Should we call for help?

The comms aren't working. I couldn't contact Bhopal.

Okay, but we can get there. Should I start the train?

No. We have to get rid of those assholes first.

We have to get them away from the train.

How?

Leave that to me.

You start the train as soon as you see the flare.

Ma'am, have faith in me.

Son, take care of your mother.

Brother,

may God keep you safe.

You know,

I was also born at a railway station.

Alone.

But I wasn't as lucky as you.

I didn't have a brother like Markhand with me.

Orphans like us

have to find our own purpose in life.

You may not understand this right now,

but if we escape this place today, you will.

Come.

Now, let him sleep.

Let him sleep.

Give him a blanket.

Cover him.

We've run out of water.

There's not a drop left.

They won't survive for long.

What do we do, sir?

Gorakhpur hasn't arrived either.

Trains are never this late. They might have stopped it.

You need to help us-- I mean, them.

Let's keep them inside. As long as they are in here, they're safe.

Sir, being in here doesn't mean we are safe.

MIC is slowly killing us.

We must get them out soon.

Let's get out of here in small groups. We have an engine.

The problem is there's only one engine.

Who do we take first? How many times will we go to and fro?

Well, no offense to you guys, but despite being a big railway station,

there are no spare trains here.

Had this been Delhi, in Nizamuddin outer, there are trains by the dozen…

-A freight train needs to be prepared. -Okay, sir.

Nishatpura Yard. You went there to prepare a freight train, right?

-Yes, sir. -Imad, we need a train.

If we can't get one,

why don't we build one?

How, sir? We don't have passenger coaches.

We just need wagons, Imad. The freight wagon is right there.

And the engine is right here.

Yes, I will go, sir.

-To build a train? -Yes. Brother, close the door behind me.

Isn't that the engine driver?

-Constable… -Sure. I'll go with him, sir.

-I am not scared at all. I'll go-- -Constable, you…

You're not going anywhere.

Hold the fort here. Don't let anyone leave.

Keep this walkie-talkie. I'll inform you when the job is done.

-Be ready. Close the door. -Okay. Sure.

C'mon, get away from the door.

Move. They've gone to take care of something urgent.

Come here.

Look, I have to take care of something urgent too.

You're in charge here. Okay? Take care of everyone. Close the door.

Why am I in charge? Constable, what's so urgent?

Where are you going?

Listen--

DG sir,

health is your department. Please give us an update.

I had a word with AIIMS.

And with the local hospital in Bhopal.

No one knows the treatment for this.

They only know that it's fatal.

-We'll know more after the first autopsy. -Right.

But we do know that people are dying over there.

So, we must send our people to help them--

Then we'll have to send more people to save the people we sent.

And more, and some more.

You probably didn't hear me. The air is toxic.

It's not a flood or an earthquake. We can't go there and rescue them.

I heard you loud and clear. The difference between you and me, is our thinking.

-Look, ma'am-- -Sir,

we may not be able to treat them,

but we can surely evacuate them.

And that's what Railways does, takes people from one place to another.

Take them safely, Rajeshwari.

No trains should go towards Bhopal.

Freight, passenger, none.

But, sir, Bhopal is at the center of the railway network.

We'll have to reroute umpteen trains.

-So do it. -Sir!

So, we won't send them any help at all?

Rajeshwari, you said it yourself.

Gorakhpur Express went towards Bhopal, but there's no sign of it now.

It has about 1,000 passengers, right?

And you still want to send more of our people there?

-Sir-- -No chance, Rajeshwari.

Sir, please think about it again.

Sir, they really need help--

Come on, send out the orders, and inform the operators in the control room.

Rati, the Minister didn't agree.

Ma'am, then we should prepare to pick up dead bodies.

Anyway, I'm sure you tried your best.

I did, Rati.

Your efforts are usually quite scary.

The last time you made an effort,

I lost my job.

I've said it a hundred times, they were the Minister's orders.

My hands were tied.

No one can sign with tied hands, ma'am.

And the letter had your signature.

Anyway, you'll never admit it and I'll never forget it.

Anyway,

It seems Bhopal Junction has run out of luck today.

We still have a chance, Rati.

For what?

All the trains are being diverted. It's a huge operation.

It'll take time.

What are you trying to say?