The Southern Railway has terminated the services of the contractor who was awarded the track cleaning work following a tragic incident near Shoranur railway station on November 2 in which three people lost their lives and one remains missing.

“The action for the termination of the contract has been initiated and a criminal case is also registered against the contractor for not ensuring the safety of the workers regarding the arrival of the trains,” said a statement issued by the Railways.

The contract for picking rags in the Shoranur yard and approaches was awarded to Munavvar of Malappuram. According to the Railways, three people have died and one is still missing after the Thiruvananthapuram-bound Kerala Express hit the workers collecting garbage from the railway at 3.05 pm on Saturday.

The railways has announced an ex gratia sum of Rs 1 lakh to the families of the deceased workers, including two women from Tamil Nadu. “On completion of the work, a group of about 10 workers instead of using the road took the railway bridge to cross to the other side to reach the railway station without notifying the railway officials and without the permission of the Railway Staff,” the statement said. .

As no rail work was planned on the bridge that day, no rail protection was available on the bridge. Unfortunately, four people were hit by a train, the statement added.

Authorities said that the workers took the bridge which has no speed restriction to cross and at the same time (Train no:12626) Kerala Express also approached the bottom of the line.

“Unfortunately, at that time three workers were run over and one worker jumped into the river,” the statement said. Meanwhile, the search for the missing person resumed in Bharathapuzha river on Sunday. The Railway Police has started an investigation into the incident.