CHENNAI: A Railway Protection Force constable on Monday acted swiftly and pulled to safety a passenger falling between a moving train and a platform at Chennai Egmore railway station.The Shraddha Sethu Express from Rameswaram to Faizabad arrived at Chennai Egmore at 12.30pm and was leaving at 1pm when the incident occurred, police said.As the train began gathering speed, the passenger tried to board a general compartment. He managed to catch hold of the handle and was climbing on when he slipped. He could have fallen between the train and platform 5, but RPF constable Suman, who was on the platform, rushed there and dragged him to safety. The man escaped unhurt.CCTV camera footage from the station showed the man in a dark shirt struggling to maintain a foothold at the entrance of the coach and slipping. It also showed a railway employee waving the flag furiously in an effort to the get the loco pilot to bring the express to a halt. It then showed the RPF constable pulling him away from the moving train.After his rescue, the man, probably in his 40s, was thoroughly shaken and was unable to speak for a few moments, Suman told TOI later. “The man was carrying a small bag but he didn’t reveal anything about himself,” the constable said. The man later walked out of the station.The video clip of the man being rescued soon went viral on social media and won allround praise for the RPF constable. Senior officers in the force also commended the constable. “The passenger was lucky that the policeman was standing close to him and was able to rescue him,” said RPF inspector V Mohan The RPF always deploys one or two constables on platforms at important stations to keep an eye on passengers and also to look out for those who loiter. There have been instances in the past when RPF personnel saved people falling off trains.On March 2, around 6pm, an RPF constable named Mahendran saved the life of a passenger who was about to board Charminar Express at Chennai Central Station but slipped and could have fallen.

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