New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) A 51-year-old track maintainer was mowed down by a freight train in Kharagpur rail division on Thursday morning, with a workers' union claiming the death was caused by railways' negilgence.

According to railway officials, the incident took place when Budhrai Besra was on a routine track patrol checking for fractures or obstructions.

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"There are three lines in the section where the incident took place. He walked 2 km on the UP line and then 2 km on the DOWN line. While inspecting the third line, it is likely that he couldn't hear the noise of approaching train due to the presence of other trains on the adjacent tracks," an official said.

The person said that the crew of the train that struck Besra didn't report the incident. "It was spotted by the loco pilot of a following train. The inquiry is underway."

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Meanwhile, the All India Railway Trackmaintainers Union wrote to the Kharagpur Divisional Railway Manager and alleged negligence in following the safety protocols.

"Failure to implement safety measures for track workers laid down by the Railway Board has led to the death," Kantharaju AV, National Secretary, AIRTU, said, demanding compensation for Besra's family.

Officials of Kharagpur division dismissed the allegations, saying that no safety norm was violated.

Chand Mohammad, National Working President of AIRTU, demanded the implementation of Rakshak device in all divisions of the Indian Railways.

"The GPS based device alerts track worker about an approaching train but the rail administration is not implementing it across all rail network in the country," Chand Mohammad said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)