A railway guard named NB Pali fell off the Sampark Kranti Express near Buti Bori railway station of Maharashtra, on Monday. The train was en route Andhra Pradesh from Hazrat Nizamuddin station in New Delhi.
The 51-year-old – a resident of Nagpur – was recovered from the Kistna (Krishna) river, near the Buti Bori railway bridge.
The railway authorities noticed the guard’s absence three stations later at Nagpur station.
The loco pilot driver of the express train then pointed out the brief halt on the bridge as a passenger had pulled the chain.
Central Railway Public Relation Officer (PRO) in Nagpur, Pravin Patil, said that the incident took place after midnight on Monday.
Pali had asked the driver over walkie-talkie to start the train slowly, and that he would jump in. A subsequent search revealed that the guard had fallen off.
Railway staff have expressed surprise about his absence being unnoticed for three stations.
According to sources in the central railway, a guard is responsible for every halt, unload and upload of cargo and passengers, and is supposed to keep a written log of every halt, along with the responsibility of exchanging of a key at every station to convey that the train has no operational issues.
The investigation, Patil said, is underway and Pali’s family, living in Nagpur, will be compensated according to the rules laid down by railway authorities.
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