Chennai student on EMU footboard hits post, dies – Times of India

CHENNAI: A 19-year-old college student travelling on the footboard of a suburban train died after his head smashed against an electric pole near Tambaram on Tuesday morning. The deceased, K Jesuran Durai of Maraimalai Nagar in Chengalpet district, was a first year BCA student of a private college in Chromepet.
Police said Durai had left home at 7 am and rode his bike till Vandalur railway station where he boarded a Chengalpet-Chennai Beach train at 8am. He was to get off at Chromepet and walk to his college. Police, based on witness accounts, said that Durai was standing on the footboard and leaning out, listening to one of his friends.
When the train crossed Irumbuliyur, his head hit against an electric post and he was thrown off. He fell on the side of the railway tracks, bleeding profusely. Others in the coach pulled the chain and got the train to stop. His friends who witnessed the fall called the railway police. A team rushed to the spot, but he was dead by then, police said. A case was registered and the body was sent to the Chromepet government hospital for a postmortem examination. With the help of the identity card found on his person and the information supplied by his friends, police informed his parents.
Preliminary investigations revealed that he had been holding on to a door handle and leaning out while listening to a friend who was further inside the coach. “We did not realise that the pole was so close to hit his head. We usually travelled on footboards whenever we were late to college and the train was crowded,” said Akash, his friend who was travelling with the deceased Durai at the time.
He said that unlike the others, Durai never stood on the footboard unless there was no other option. “This was, however, our usual time to go to college. It all happened within seconds before we could pull him inside. Even now we are struggling to recollect how it happened,” said a sobbing Akash.
In 2012, in a similar incident, M Muthukumar, an employee of a software company, died on the spot when his head hit an electric pole below the Chetpet bridge as the train was nearing Chetpet railway station.
A few GRP teams recently toured several colleges in the city and its suburbs, advising the students on the precautions to be taken while travelling by suburban trains. Showing them documentaries made on the dangers of footboard travel, they urged students to avoid it, not to talk or chat on cellphone while crossing the railway tracks. They even distributed pamphlets on the matter to highlight the point.