AYODHYA: Four members of a family, including two children riding pillion on a bike were crushed to death by a speeding train while they were crossing the railway tracks at Durgapur-Rampurva, an unmanned railway crossing in Maharajganj police station of Ayodhya district on Saturday.
The tragedy busts tall claims of Indian Railways that all unmanned railway crossings across the country were eliminated in February 2019 with the boom barrier falling on the last unmanned crossing — No. 28C Chunar Chopan — 180km off Prayagraj.
Police said, the accident took place at Durgapur-Rampurva crossing between Bilharighat and Ulnabhari railway stations on Lucknow-Varanasi main line. The dead were identified as Ramchandra Nishad, 38, his wife Vimla, 34, and their two children Vimal, 4, and Ganesh, 2, all residents of nearby Rampur Purwari village.
Talking to TOI, Ayodhya senior superintendent of police Shailesh Pandey, said, "The dismembered bodies are being removed from the tracks. It was an unmanned railway crossing near Durgapur village, where Ramchandra Nishad tried to cross the railway tracks on a bike with his family riding pillion. Suddenly a train sped past, mowing down the family of four. There are many death-trap unmanned railway crossings in the area."
When TOI spoke to divisional railway manager, Northern Railways, Suresh Kumar, he denied any accident on railway tracks in his jurisdiction. "Only a suicide case was reported in Maharajganj police station area, where a man was run over by Surat-Muzaffarpur Special train, while he lay on the tracks," said Kumar.
