Two unidentified women died after being hit by trains at separate locations under Sarnath police station on Friday, officers said, and efforts to establish their identities were continuing.
The first fatality was reported from the Ashapur railway crossing under the Ashapur outpost. Police said a woman estimated to be about seventy years old was run over by a train while crossing or moving near the tracks. The second incident was logged at the Varuna Bridge railway crossing under the Puranapul outpost, where a woman estimated to be about forty-five years old was struck by a train. In both cases the women remained unidentified at the time of the first police briefings.
Bodies were shifted for post-mortem and for identification procedures that typically include local announcements, review of nearby CCTV where available, and checks with families who report missing persons. Sarnath's jurisdiction covers a busy mix of suburban crossings, pilgrim traffic toward the Buddhist sites, and freight-passenger movement on lines that skirt the city's northern edge. Level crossings such as Ashapur and Varuna Bridge see walkers and two-wheelers threading gaps when gates are open, a pattern that has produced repeated track fatalities across eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Police have not publicly named the trains involved or released a confirmed timeline beyond placing both deaths on Friday. They have also not suggested the two incidents are linked beyond geography and date. Until identification succeeds, the public record stops at the estimated ages, the two crossing names, the outposts that responded, and the fact that both victims were women unknown to officers on arrival.
Track deaths of unidentified persons often take days to resolve, especially when the deceased carried no phone, purse or identity card. Mortuary staff photograph clothing and any jewellery; police circulate descriptions through beat officers. In some past cases relatives arrive only after a neighbour notices someone missing from a rented room or a daily labour route. That slow process is why Friday's report still reads as two anonymous tragedies rather than named obituaries.
Families searching for missing relatives in the Sarnath, Ashapur and Puranapul belts are being asked through the usual station channels to check with investigators. Railway and local police will complete inquests once medical and identity work finishes. Track safety drives, whistling protocols and gate staffing are perennial responses after such deaths; Friday's cases add two more names still waiting to be written. Ashapur sits on a stretch where local walkers cut across tracks to reach housing clusters, and Varuna Bridge carries a similar mix of pedestrians and two-wheelers beside a waterway that floods in high season. Both spots have seen accidents before; Friday's toll was two more unexplained deaths rather than a named collision with a published train number. Until identity work finishes, officers are treating the files as separate accidental deaths under inquiry.
