Train services on the Ballygunge-Sonarpur section of Eastern Railway (ER)’s Sealdah (South) division were disrupted for nearly 30 minutes after one of the tracks near Garia station developed a crack on Thursday morning. Nine local trains were delayed by about 15 minutes each.

The crack was noticed by two railway officials — Prasun Banerjee, the head commercial clerk, and Raju Gupta, a commercial clerk — while they were on their way to work.

“They were walking along the tracks around 7am when they spotted the crack,” an ER official said.

They immediately informed the control room and the train services in the section were stalled, he added.

The staff of permanent way inspector (PWI) was sent to the spot and the track was repaired within half an hour.

The services resumed at 8am after the crack was welded. According to officials, there was no “real danger” of a train getting derailed due to the crack, since it was very small. “But the crack needed to be repaired immediately to prevent it from widening,” an official said.

“Such cracks are quite common,” he explained. Tracks may develop cracks due to a sudden change in temperature, especially during winter.

In December last year, a crack was detected near Mankar station in Burdwan and the Howrah-bound Doon Express was stopped to prevent a disaster.

In September 2004, the timely detection of a crack on the Patna-Kiul railway track averted a mishap.