Six commuters killed at Chennai suburban train station after

Six passengers travelling on the footboard of crowded suburban trains during rush hour died after crashing into a concrete track fence at St Thomas Mount railway station here in two accidents in little over 13 hours, police said today.

Those dead included three students aged between 16 and 25 years. Six people were also injured.

The first mishap took place around 7 p.m. yesterday when two commuters of Chennai Beach-Chengalpattu train hit against the wall and fell to their death.

A little over 13 hours later at 8.30 a.m, 10 people perched precariously on the footboard of another suburban train hit the wall, about 50 metres from the scene of the first tragedy, and fell in a heap on the rugged surface. Four of them died, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.

Medical teams including vascular surgeons were treating those injured at government hospitals. The legs of one of the injured were severed in the accident.

Kanchipuram District Collector P Ponniah and senior railway and police officials inspected the scene of the twin accidents.

Health Minister C Vijayabaskar, Health Secretary Radhakrishnan, and some other senior government officials visited the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital at Park Town and Government Hospital in Royapettah to inquire about the condition of the injured.

Chennai Divisional Railway Manager Naveen Gulati said there was a heavy rush of passengers today morning as trains were running late due to lack of power supply on the suburban line.

A large number of people had boarded the train involved in the second accident which was diverted to the main line used by fast trains. Many of them were travelling on the footboard, he said.

Abutting the line used by fast trains is a wall dividing the two railway lines.

"Usually the suburban train from Chennai Beach to Tirumalpur runs on a suburban track. Even in the morning, it was allotted the same track, but was later shifted to fast suburban line as there was no supply in an overhead wire on the other track," Gulati told PTI.

It was a common practice to make such changes, he said.

The suburban train from Chennai Beach to Chengalpattu was also running on the fast suburban line on platform number 3 when two people hit against the wall and died.

The Government Railway Police has now requested the railways to remove the wall.

"An inquiry is on. This wall exists for several years. However, in view of repeat accidents we have requested the railway authorities to remove it," Additional Director General of Police (GRP) C Sylendra Babu said.

He said railway authorities have been requested not to ply suburban trains on the fast track till the time the wall stood there.

Meanwhile, the Southern Railway has blamed footboard travel for the two incidents.

"It is noticed that there was no infringement as per railway rule. However, in view of the unfortunate incidents, the matter is being studied by the railways to identify further steps to be taken to avoid such incidents," a release from the public sector transporter said.

"Passengers are requested to avoid travelling on footboard and avoid hanging outside the train risking their own lives and those of the co-passengers," it said.