Railway employee crushed to death

Patna: In a tragic accident at Barauni Railway Station in Bihar’s Begusarai, a railway employee was crushed to death after getting trapped between an engine and a bogie on Saturday.

On platform five, railway worker Amar Rawat, who was responsible for uncoupling the engine from the bogie of the 5204 Barauni-Lucknow Express, lost his life after an engine unexpectedly moved backwards without a signal, trapping him between the engine and the bogie.

It took rescue personnel nearly two hours to retrieve his body, leaving an atmosphere of shock and grief at the station. The driver fled the scene immediately afterwards, intensifying frustration and anger among other railway employees.

Rawat was due to get married on December 11.

Shivprasad Yadav, the Divisional President of Sonpur, said, “Four workers are typically required for the safe handling of engine-bogie couplings, yet only one or two staff members are often tasked with the job due to understaffing. Lack of personnel and adherence to safety protocols may have led to this preventable tragedy.”

The victim’s brother, Shekhar Kumar, also voiced the family’s distress and frustration, alleging that despite knowing the safety requirements, the railway management continued to operate with minimal staff, leading to a high-risk environment for workers. Rawat, who had obtained his job on compassionate grounds after his father’s passing, was employed as a porter responsible for handling couplings between engines and bogies.

Following the accident, railway officials, including Sonpur Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Vivek Bhushan Sood, visited the site and assured assistance to the victim’s family.

“I assured immediate assistance to Rawat’s family and promised disciplinary measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,” Sood said. “We have constituted a special team that would conduct a thorough investigation to understand how protocols have failed and what actions must be taken. A high-level meeting has been called to discuss safety improvements and prevent future incidents,” Sood said.