Five railway employees, including an officer, were on Saturday run over by the Delhi-bound Dehradun Janshatabdi Express near Ghaziabad, triggering protests by other employees, who squatted on the tracks, disrupting the movement of trains for some hours.

Though the cause of the mishap is yet to be ascertained, poor visibility is believed to be the cause. The four gangmen and the track maintenance inspector were working on the track between Ghaziabad and Shahibabad stations when the mishap took place at 11:30 am.

The driver is being questioned by railway officials. Following the incident, railway employees squatted on the tracks and protested against the incident. Four goods train and the Amritsar Express were held up due to the blockade.

However, the blockade was later lifted and train operations have resumed in this section, a Northern Railway spokesman said.

The incident comes close on the heels of a similar accident near Palwal in Haryana early this week when six gangmen were run over by a local train.