Woman killed by an oncoming goods train at Visakhapatnam

In horrific circumstances on Sunday, a woman was killed by a goods train at Pendurthi, Visakhapatnam and died. She was apparently crossing the railway track at Chintalagraharam village on Sunday morning when this unfortunate incident took place. After the incident, the villagers protested about the woman’s death, claiming that she had died due to the railway authorities’ negligence.

The victim has been identified as Pulamarashetti Lakshmi, a 40-year-old farmer at Chintalagraharam who sells her vegetables at the Gopalapatnam farmer’s market.

Immediately after the woman was killed, the villagers gathered around the dead body and protested. They refused to move the body till 10 AM, alleging that the railway authorities had built a railway underpass but not provided enough facilities like street lamps. But the railway crossing and the road had been closed for the construction of the underpass. Reportedly, this was the reason why the victim chose to go across the railway track.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Kameshwara Rao arrived at the site of the accident and had a word with the villagers, stating that any problem can be brought to the attention of the railway authorities. Only then, the villagers receded and the dead body was moved to King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam for post-mortem.

Unguarded railway tracks is one of the major problems regarding railway safety in Visakhapatnam and the rest of the country, highlighted by this recent incident of the woman killed while crossing a railway track. While most of the railway tracks in Vizag have crossings, and other facilities like underpasses, overhead bridges and flyovers, the railway tracks in the rural areas of the district are still fairly unguarded and a lot of accidents

take place at railway tracks. Additionally, there isn’t enough awareness on the dangers of crossing an unguarded railway track. Hopefully, this incident fuels the authorities to take necessary action and make it safer for the public to cross railway tracks.