Had the driver applied the brakes a moment later, Anup Mukherjee might have been crushed under the wheels.

Fifty-five-year-old Mukherjee, project manager of West Bengal State Electricity Board, fell on the Metro Railway tracks at Rabindra Sadan station while a train was entering and was saved by the alertness of driver D. Nath.

Mukherjee, on medication for high blood pressure and blood sugar, left his Shibpur residence on Tuesday morning and reached the station to take a train to Tollygunge. From there, he would take a car to reach office in Baruipur.

It was around 9.20 am ? the Tollygunge-bound train was approaching the station ? when Mukherjee fell unconscious and slumped to the tracks. As onlookers raised the alarm, the driver applied the emergency brakes and could stop the train in time. Power supply to the tracks was immediately snapped and Metro employees lifted Mukherjee to safety.

He sustained minor injuries and was taken to SSKM Hospital, from where his family members shifted him to Suraksha Hospital, in Salt Lake. His condition was reported to be stable.

The train was delayed for five minutes, forcing the authorities to reschedule four subsequent trains.

Police and family members of Mukherjee ruled out the Metro authorities? suspicion that he had attempted to commit suicide. ?According to our information, Mukherjee suffers from high blood pressure and blood sugar and he fell unconscious at the station,? said Anuj Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (south).

Mukherjee?s daughter, Sahana, said her mother had forgotten to give him his medicines in the morning. ?She almost collapsed on hearing the news. As my father is ailing, we are always concerned about him,? she said.