Traffic on Gzb-Delhi line hit after train runs over gangman

GHAZIABAD: A 58-year-old railway gangman was run over by a speeding train near Sahibabad railway station on Monday, disrupting rail traffic for more than an hour and a half on the Ghaziabad-Delhi route.
The accident occurred when the gangman, Faiznath, a resident of Faizabad district, was working on the tracks under Mohan Nagar overbridge around noon. An FIR has not yet been registered in the case.
Faiznath was run over by the Ghaziabad-New Delhi EMU train. Other gangmen and members of the railway union alleged that the train's driver knew that track repair and maintenance work were in progress, but drove the train negligently, at a high speed without blowing the horn.
When the EMU returned from New Delhi and stopped at Sahibabad station, at 2pm, angry workers dragged the driver out, but he managed to wriggle out and flee.
"The gangman's body has been sent for postmortem. Angry railway gangmen had halted the EMU for some time. Traffic was back to normal after senior officials intervened and calmed down the gangmen," a government railway police officer said.
Other gangmen who were present during the incident, laid down Faiznath's body on the tracks, and staged a sit-in, demanding that senior officials visit the site of the accident. At least two superfast trains were delayed because of the protests. Running schedules of the Poorva Express en route New Delhi railway station and the Kochimani Express on its way to Nizamuddin railway station were affected.
"These trains were delayed by one hour each. Rail traffic on the route was back to normal later," Dipesh Chopra, divisional traffic manager, Ghaziabad, said.