Teenager fatally electrocuted after putting his ear to live rail to listen to the tracks to see if his train was coming

Kanwa l Butt, 17, died immediately in God sto ne, Surrey, an inquest heard

He had already crossed the tracks to ask staff why his train was late

The teenager, who moved to the UK 18 months ago and was travelling alone by train for the first time, may not have known about live rails



Kanwal Butt, 17, died immediately after putting his ear to the tracks to see if his train was approaching

A teenage boy was fatally electrocuted after trying to 'listen' to train tracks – as is done in his native Pakistan.



Kanwal Butt, 17, suffered severe burns and died immediately after putting his ear to the live rail to see if his train was approaching Godstone station in Surrey, an inquest heard.



Kanwal, who had come to the UK from Pakistan with his family 18 months earlier, had already walked across the tracks to the intercom to ask staff why his train was late.



The 17-year-old then clambered down from the platform again, knelt down and leaned towards the deadly rail, which discharged a shock that killed him instantly.



An inquest was told that the teenager, who was making his first solo train journey in Britain, would probably not have known about live rails.



His father, Amjad Butt, told police in a statement: ‘He has never travelled alone by train. In Pakistan trains operate on coal or diesel. I don’t think Kanwal would have known the rails are full of electricity.



‘In Pakistan you can walk across the track.’



The popular teenager was three weeks into a work experience placement at an Indian and Nepalese restaurant in Godstone and had been excited about returning to his family in Aldershot, Hampshire, to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid.



His death prompted his family and a local councillor to call for greater emphasis on rail-side warnings, especially in an age when more people are travelling to Britain to live and work.

Gary Roberts, a customer service operator for Southern Railways, told police in a statement how on August 7 last year he was on duty in his office, answering calls from the public and operating the CCTV cameras across the network.

He said he received a call at 10.20pm from Godstone station from a foreign man who was asking why the board at the station said the train was at 10.40pm when online it had said it would call at 10.30pm.



He told him it was running late and then advised him on where to change for the journey home.



The next thing Mr Roberts knew of the situation was when a duty manager called him asking him to review CCTV footage from Godstone after receiving reports of a body on the line.



Detective Sergeant Danny Stockdale, of British Transport Police, said: ‘It shows Mr Butt arriving at the station at about 10.09pm, on his own, carrying a suitcase.



‘He goes onto the platform. He jumps down onto the tracks crosses the tracks on foot, on to the other platform, where he is for a couple of minutes, then crosses back over the tracks.



‘He stays for a few seconds, goes down on the tracks, goes on to his knees, leans forward, puts his head onto the tracks.’

An inquest was told that the teenager, who was making his first solo train journey in Britain from Godstone station (pictured), would probably not have known about live rails

Mr Roberts said the next thing visible was smoke, before Kanwal was seen lying on the tracks.



Parshuram Pandey, from the Lal Akash restaurant, said: ‘In Pakistan to find out if a train is approaching you would kneel on the ground and put your ear to the rail.’



Mr Pandey also described Kanwal as ‘a very nice boy’ who was liked by everybody at the restaurant and had already become good friends with people in the short time he was with them.



Chef Sandip Pokharel said: ‘I only knew him for three weeks but I’m upset because he was such a lovely person.’



He had been excited at the prospect of going home but turned down an offer to be dropped off at Redhill railway station because he did not want to be any trouble.



Instead he accepted help in working out train times, packed his case and made his way to the nearby station.

Soon afterwards, staff saw emergency vehicles converging on the site. The inquest heard that officers told them there was a trespasser on the railway.



Mr Butt, through local district and county councillor Charles Choudhary, questioned whether the train information boards had been working at the time his son was at the station, because he had been agitated by the late-running train.



Mr Butt told the coroner: ‘My son was a lovely, lively, happy boy who had just sat his exams at college and has got good results. He wanted to go to further education college.



‘I can’t believe this has happened and my family are all in great shock.’

Kanwal's death prompted his family and a local councillor to call for greater emphasis on rail-side warnings

But assistant coroner Belinda Cheney, presiding at the inquest in Woking, Surrey, said: ‘It’s not the fact that the train was running late that causes his death. It’s his going down on to the track.’



She concluded: ‘He was an extremely likeable young man who was looking forward to going home and may well have been anxious about his late-running train.



‘However, for reasons we will never know he decided to go down onto the track rather than use the footbridge to ascertain when that train was coming.



‘He appears to place his ear to the track, possibly to determine when his late-running train will arrive and not appreciating the tracks are electrified.



‘I will record that he died as an accident.’



Afterwards Mr Choudhary said: ‘What we have to do is make the public more aware of the dangers of people jumping onto the tracks.



‘A large number of people are coming from Europe, Asia and Africa and there needs to be a system to let the public know it’s dangerous.

