Five railway workers, including a section engineer, were killed after they were run over by the Dehradun Jan Shatabdi Express near Hindon bridge in Ghaziabad on Saturday.
Railway officials said nine workers of Ghaziabad junction’s gang number 3 were undertaking minor repairs on the up-track to Delhi when the incident occurred around 11.05 a.m.
“Thick smoky conditions in the morning had reduced the visibility to a great extent when the accident take place,” said Prithi Pal, a survivor.
“There are no safety measures for the gang men who have to work under a lot of pressure.”
This is the third major railway accident in the past five days, raising the death toll to 17 — 11 of the victims have been railway employees.
Angry workers stopped the bodies from being taken away for post-mortem and demonstrated at the accident site, holding up the busy Delhi-Howrah traffic route till 2 p.m.
The track was cleared after the intervention of senior railways and district administration officials.
Railway men alleged the driver of the Jan Shatabdi Express had not alerted the victims who were working on the tracks.
“There were two other trains that were passing by on the up-and down tracks. Suddenly, the Jan Shatabdi arrived speeding over 100 km per hour and ran over the men,” said Nathu Ram, a push trolley operator, who survived the accident.
{{/usCountry}}“There were two other trains that were passing by on the up-and down tracks. Suddenly, the Jan Shatabdi arrived speeding over 100 km per hour and ran over the men,” said Nathu Ram, a push trolley operator, who survived the accident.
{{/usCountry}}Northern Railway divisional railway manager B.D. Garg said cautions are provided only in cases of specialised work on the tracks.
“This was a minor repair work. We will have to find out whether the section-Engineer was carrying a walkie-talkie with him, which is generally provided to be aware of the train movements,” Garg said.