The Indian Railways is investigating a crazy incident where a freight train traveled more than 70km without any drivers. Can you believe it? Videos on social media showed the train zooming past a bunch of stations. This all happened between Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. The train was carrying stone chips and had stopped in Kathua for the drivers to switch. But when they got off, the train started moving on its own down a slope. It managed to go through five stations before railway officials stopped it by putting wood blocks on the tracks. They’re still trying to figure out why this happened so they can prevent it from happening again.

Original news source: Runaway Indian train travels 70km without driver (BBC)

🎧 Listen:

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📖 Vocabulary:

Group or Classroom Activities

Warm-up Activities:

– Headline Creation
Instructions: Divide the students into pairs or small groups. Give each group a few minutes to come up with a catchy headline for the article. Encourage them to use their creativity and English language skills to create an engaging headline that captures the essence of the incident.

– Pros and Cons
Instructions: Divide the students into two groups. Assign one group to come up with the pros of the incident (e.g. increased publicity for the Indian Railways, no casualties) and the other group to come up with the cons (e.g. potential danger, damage to the train). Give them a few minutes to brainstorm and then have each group present their points and engage in a discussion.

– Synonym Challenge
Instructions: Provide a list of key words from the article (e.g. freight train, drivers, stations, slope) and ask the students to come up with as many synonyms as they can for each word. Encourage them to use their vocabulary knowledge and thesaurus if needed. After a few minutes, have each student or group share their synonyms and discuss any differences in meaning or usage.

– Think-Pair-Share
Instructions: Ask the students to take a few minutes to think about why they think the train started moving on its own. Then, pair them up and have them discuss their thoughts with their partner. Finally, bring the class back together and ask a few students to share their ideas with the whole group. Encourage them to use English to express their opinions and support their ideas.

– Future Predictions
Instructions: Divide the class into small groups and ask each group to imagine what might happen in the future as a result of this incident. They can consider the impact on the Indian Railways, safety measures, public perception, etc. Give them a few minutes to discuss and then have each group present their predictions to the class. Encourage them to use English to articulate their ideas and explain their reasoning.

🤔 Comprehension Questions:

1. What is the Indian Railways investigating?
2. How far did the freight train travel without any drivers?
3. What did the videos on social media show?
4. Where did this incident happen?
5. What was the train carrying?
6. Why did the train stop in Kathua?
7. How did railway officials manage to stop the train?
8. What are railway officials trying to figure out?
Go to answers ⇩

🎧✍️ Listen and Fill in the Gaps:

The Indian Railways is (1)______ a crazy incident where a (2)______ train (3)______ more than 70km without any drivers. Can you believe it? (4)______ on social media showed the train zooming past a bunch of (5)______. This all happened between (6)______ in (7)______ and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. The train was (8)______ stone chips and had stopped in Kathua for the (9)______ to (10)______. But when they got off, the train (11)______ moving on its own down a slope. It (12)______ to go through five stations before railway (13)______ stopped it by (14)______ wood blocks on the tracks. They’re still (15)______ to figure out why this happened so they can (16)______ it from happening again.
Go to answers ⇩

💬 Discussion Questions:

Students can ask a partner these questions, or discuss them as a group.

1. What is a freight train?
2. How would you feel if you saw a train moving without any drivers?
3. Have you ever seen a crazy incident like this before? Can you tell us about it?
4. Do you think it’s dangerous for a train to move without any drivers? Why or why not?
5. What do you think the railway officials should do to prevent this from happening again?
6. Have you ever traveled on a train? What was your experience like?
7. Do you think the train should have been carrying stone chips? Why or why not?
8. What would you do if you were one of the drivers and the train started moving on its own?
9. Have you ever been on a train that stopped at multiple stations? How was it different from this incident?
10. Do you think the videos on social media helped the investigation? Why or why not?
11. How do you think the train managed to go through five stations without anyone stopping it?
12. Have you ever been on a train that had to stop suddenly? How did you feel?
13. Do you think the railway officials should be punished for this incident? Why or why not?
14. How do you think the drivers felt when they saw the train moving without them?
15. Do you think this incident will make people afraid to travel by train? Why or why not?

Individual Activities

📖💭 Vocabulary Meanings:

Match each word to its meaning.

Words:
1. investigating
2. incident
3. freight
4. social media
5. zooming
6. stations
7. slope
8. managed
9. officials
10. prevented
11. tracks
12. figure out
13. prevent
14. carrying
15. switch

Meanings:
(A) Stop something from happening in the future
(B) Understand or solve something
(C) Places where trains stop for passengers to get on or off
(D) Websites and applications that allow users to create and share content or to participate in social networking
(E) An event, especially one that is unusual or unexpected
(F) Looking into something carefully to find out the facts
(G) Having something as a load or burden
(H) Was able to do something with effort or skill
(I) Goods or cargo transported for pay, especially by a ship, aircraft, or truck
(J) Exchange one thing for another
(K) Stopped something from happening
(L) The rails on which trains run
(M) Ground that has an incline, not flat
(N) Moving very fast
(O) People in charge or with authority
Go to answers ⇩

🔡 Multiple Choice Questions:

1. What was the incident that the Indian Railways is investigating?
(a) A passenger train traveling without any passengers
(b) A freight train traveling without any drivers
(c) A freight train carrying stone chips
(d) A passenger train zooming past stations

2. Where did the incident take place?
(a) Between Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district in Punjab
(b) Between Delhi and Mumbai
(c) Between Kolkata and Chennai
(d) Between Bangalore and Hyderabad

3. What did the train carry?
(a) Passengers
(b) Food supplies
(c) Stone chips
(d) Cars

4. What happened when the train stopped in Kathua?
(a) The train started moving on its own
(b) The train was loaded with more stone chips
(c) The train was delayed
(d) The drivers got off

5. How many stations did the train pass before it was stopped?
(a) Ten
(b) Five
(c) Three
(d) Two

6. How did railway officials stop the train?
(a) By putting wood blocks on the tracks
(b) By pulling the emergency brake
(c) By calling the drivers back
(d) By shutting down the engine

7. What are railway officials trying to figure out?
(a) How to prevent this from happening again
(b) How to improve train safety
(c) How to increase the speed of trains
(d) Why the train moved on its own

8. What is the purpose of the investigation?
(a) To punish the drivers
(b) To promote the use of social media
(c) To prevent a similar incident from happening again
(d) To increase the number of freight trains

Go to answers ⇩

🕵️ True or False Questions:

1. The train managed to pass through five stations before railway officials intervened.
2. Videos on social media captured the train speeding past several stations.
3. The train was carrying stone chips and had stopped in Kathua for the drivers to switch.
4. Railway officials halted the train by putting metal blocks on the tracks.
5. Authorities are not investigating the incident to prevent it from happening again.
6. After the drivers got off, the train unexpectedly started moving down a slope.
7. The event took place between Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district in Himachal Pradesh.
8. A passenger train in India traveled over 70km without any drivers.
Go to answers ⇩

📝 Write a Summary:

Write a summary of this news article in two sentences.

Writing Questions:

Answer the following questions. Write as much as you can for each answer.

1. What happened to the freight train in India?
2. Where was the train traveling from and to?
3. What was the train carrying?
4. How did the train stop?
5. Why are railway officials investigating this incident?

✅ Answers

🤔✅ Comprehension Question Answers:

1. The Indian Railways is investigating a crazy incident where a freight train traveled more than 70km without any drivers.
2. The freight train traveled more than 70km without any drivers.
3. The videos on social media showed the train zooming past a bunch of stations.
4. This incident happened between Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district in Punjab.
5. The train was carrying stone chips.
6. The train stopped in Kathua for the drivers to switch.
7. Railway officials stopped the train by putting wood blocks on the tracks.
8. Railway officials are trying to figure out why this happened so they can prevent it from happening again.
Go back to questions ⇧

🎧✍️✅ Listen and Fill in the Gaps Answers:

(1) investigating
(2) freight
(3) traveled
(4) Videos
(5) stations
(6) Kathua
(7) Jammu
(8) carrying
(9) drivers
(10) switch
(11) started
(12) managed
(13) officials
(14) putting
(15) trying
(16) prevent
Go back to questions ⇧

📖💭✅ Vocabulary Meanings Answers:

1. investigating
Answer: (F) Looking into something carefully to find out the facts

2. incident
Answer: (E) An event, especially one that is unusual or unexpected

3. freight
Answer: (I) Goods or cargo transported for pay, especially by a ship, aircraft, or truck

4. social media
Answer: (D) Websites and applications that allow users to create and share content or to participate in social networking

5. zooming
Answer: (N) Moving very fast

6. stations
Answer: (C) Places where trains stop for passengers to get on or off

7. slope
Answer: (M) Ground that has an incline, not flat

8. managed
Answer: (H) Was able to do something with effort or skill

9. officials
Answer: (O) People in charge or with authority

10. prevented
Answer: (K) Stopped something from happening

11. tracks
Answer: (L) The rails on which trains run

12. figure out
Answer: (B) Understand or solve something

13. prevent
Answer: (A) Stop something from happening in the future

14. carrying
Answer: (G) Having something as a load or burden

15. switch
Answer: (J) Exchange one thing for another
Go back to questions ⇧

🔡✅ Multiple Choice Answers:

1. What was the incident that the Indian Railways is investigating?
Answer: (b) A freight train traveling without any drivers

2. Where did the incident take place?
Answer: (a) Between Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district in Punjab

3. What did the train carry?
Answer: (c) Stone chips

4. What happened when the train stopped in Kathua?
Answer: (d) The drivers got off

5. How many stations did the train pass before it was stopped?
Answer: (b) Five

6. How did railway officials stop the train?
Answer: (a) By putting wood blocks on the tracks

7. What are railway officials trying to figure out?
Answer: (d) Why the train moved on its own

8. What is the purpose of the investigation?
Answer: (c) To prevent a similar incident from happening again
Go back to questions ⇧

🕵️✅ True or False Answers:

1. The train managed to pass through five stations before railway officials intervened. (Answer: True)
2. Videos on social media captured the train speeding past several stations. (Answer: True)
3. The train was carrying stone chips and had stopped in Kathua for the drivers to switch. (Answer: True)
4. Railway officials halted the train by putting metal blocks on the tracks. (Answer: False)
5. Authorities are not investigating the incident to prevent it from happening again. (Answer: False)
6. After the drivers got off, the train unexpectedly started moving down a slope. (Answer: True)
7. The event took place between Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Hoshiarpur district in Himachal Pradesh. (Answer: False)
8. A passenger train in India traveled over 70km without any drivers. (Answer: False)
Go back to questions ⇧