NEW DELHI: In a tragic accident, a Delhi Metro railway engineer was killed and another injured while they were undertaking some repair work on the signalling system between Shahdara and Welcome stations on Line I of the network on Thursday afternoon.

The mishap took place between 12-30 p.m. and 1 p.m. when the two employees -- 27-year-old Section Engineer Indermohan Srivastava and 22-year-old Junior Engineer Purshottam Priyadarshi -- had gone to repair signal cables between Shahdara and Welcome stations. The two had taken the work permit and the track access documents before embarking on the job.Before going on to the tracks, the two had also put on their high visibility vests. At Shahdara station, the driver of the train that was about to get on to the line was informed about the presence of the two engineers.

A DMRC spokesperson said while the two had gone to rectify the problem in the signalling cables that are laid near the side walls, the train operations continued as the Automatic Train Protection System was functioning normally.

Despite all the precautions, warning and compliance with the laid rules on accessing the tracks, the mishap took place and the two engineers were hit by a train in broad daylight. While Indermohan Srivastava was killed on the spot, Purshottam Priyadarshi suffered a fracture in his right arm. He was taken to GTB Hospital from where he was later shifted to another hospital. There was no disruption in the train operations, however, as the two were not run over by the train and were only hit while they were standing on the sidewalk.

Director (Operations) Raj Kumar, General Manager (Operations) O.H. Pandey and other Metro officers rushed to the scene of the accident and a high-level enquiry was ordered by DMRC. The enquiry committee will consist of three officers of the rank of General Manager and the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety has been informed of the mishap.

The probe would investigate how the train was allowed to move on the tracks on which the two engineers were at work. It would also probe the conduct of the train driver to ascertain if he had blown the horn to warn the two engineers about its approach and applied the brakes to prevent the mishap. Simultaneously, the investigations would also determine how and why the two engineers could not take enough evasive action to prevent getting hit by the approaching train. The police said they had registered a case under Sections 304 A and 337 of the IPC.

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