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A railway employee was crushed to death on Saturday after becoming caught between the buffers of the engine and a train coach during a shunting operation. The incident took place at the Barauni Junction station — sparking fresh debate about the use of an automatic coupling system.
According to reports, the victim — Amar Kumar — had been attempting to open the coupling of the train when it unexpectedly reversed and trapped him between the carriages. The train driver reportedly fled the scene after the alarm was sounded and failed to take any counteractive measures to reverse the engine or prevent the incident. The hapless porter was crushed by the moving train and died on the spot.
An official of the East Central Railway said the guidelines for such an operation must have been violated leading to this “unfortunate incident” and an inquiry has been ordered.
“I never understood why it has to be done in this primitive way, putting people’s lives at stake. When the technology is available, why is it not deployed?” asked one user.
“This is totally irresponsible. Who is answerable to his family? Our primitive systems keep claiming lives,” fumed another.
“100 million engineers…still can’t come up with automatic coupling system. Bro 5 min mein laptop delivery chahiye to bolo,” jibed a third.
What is manual coupling?Manual coupling — the process followed in India — requires one train compartment (or engine) to remain parked while an individual performs the process. The two trains approach each other and then movable knuckles attached to the compartments rotate around a joint before a pin drops into a waiting slot. Buffers are shock-absorbing pads that are brought into contact with each other when the vehicles are coupled.
Rail workers are required to stand between the cars as they come together and guide the link into the coupler pocket. They are also the ones who insert the pin to hold the link in place once the compartments come together. The process poses significant risk to the workers and has gradually fallen out of fashion in several parts of the world.
Several countries including the US, Russia and China now use different types of automated mechanical coupling systems — where the train cars connect and uncouple through mechanical and digital means.
(With inputs from agencies)