CHENNAI: Four persons were run over by express trains in two separate accidents when they tried to cross the railway tracks at Chromepet and Ponneri railway stations late on Wednesday.
According to the Tambaram Railway Police, B Sathish (40) and R Pranav (22) were hit by Tinsukia Express when they were walking on the tracks near the Chromepet railway station around 10.30pm on Wednesday. Sathish, who works with a finance company, and Pranav, an employee of a
private firm in Royapuram, failed to hear the train horn as they were talking on their mobile phones while walking on the tracks. Both were residents of Chitlapakkam.
The Tambaram Railway Police recovered the bodies and sent them for postmortem. The two had parked their bikes at the railway parking area and decided to take a shorter route via the tracks to reach the parking lot.
Police said that though there are footover bridges and subways, many people still walk on railway tracks.
At Ponneri, two construction labourers, Chandrasekar (50) and Subramani (47), were hit by Tata Nagar Express when they were trying to cross the railway tracks to reach the station platform on Wednesday. Chandrasekar and Mani, both from Salem, were working as labourers in Ponneri.
Despite foot bridges, passengers still cross railway tracks, says official
They had come to Ponneri railway station to go to Chennai Central from where they were to board a train to Salem. The Korukkupet railway police recovered the bodies.
A Chennai railway division official said after trains began to be operated at a speed of 130 kmph on Chennai-Gudur section, most of the areas prone to trespassing were fenced.
Despite the presence of foot overbridges, passengers trespassed into railway tracks in violation of railway laws in Ponneri and Chrompet. Efforts to fence the tracks at the remaining locations will be expedited.
Were using cell phones
Sathish and Pranav failed to hear the horn of Tinsukia Express as they were talking on their mobile phones while walking on the railway tracks near Chromepet station