Shatabdi crushes two on Ludhiana crossing

LUDHIANA: Two people were crushed under a train and two were injured when they were negotiating the "closed" Giaspura railway crossing in Ludhiana at 8.15pm on Saturday.
Government Railway Police officials confirmed the death of Ratanjit Singh, 63, and Gurpreet Kaur, 26. Two other commuters - Sunny (21) and Arjun Kumar - were injured in the accident. Two scooters, two motorcycles and one cycle were smashed in the accident.
Northern Railway officials claimed that the accident occurred as the commuters tried to pass the crossing that had been closed ahead of the trains' arrival. Sunny, one of the injured, however blamed the accident on the confusion caused by gates opening for a short while. He said some of commuters were at the crossing when a train went towards Ambala, after which the gate opened and then shut, all within a few seconds, followed by the Shatabdi's arrival on other track, and running over those trying to cross over.
Railway officials rule out technical error
However, chief area manager, Ludhiana railway station, Parminder Singh, said the crash was not caused by any technical error.
He said, “As the people were crossing the tracks, two trains reached there on different tracks. First the Chandigarh-Amritsar Intercity going toward Am ritsar passed through. Then the Amritsar-bound Shatabdi Express arrived and hit the two-wheeler riders on the second track. After we received a message in the control room, a team was sent to the spot. We also deploy the Railway protection Force (RPF) during the peak hours, but people still cross the closed gates, risking their lives,” he said.
PRO, Northern Railway, Deepak Kumar said all the gates were closed and there was no error.
(With inputs from Saurav Arora)