Residents of Mumbai have become blas¨¦ about the dangers involved while crossing railway tracks. The practice has become a cultural norm in such a way that a thousand deaths are also not enough to bring about a significant change.
According to Government Railway police (GRP) data, out of a total of 2,981 deaths on Mumbai¡¯s suburban railway network last year, 1,619 cases were of people hit by trains while crossing tracks, the HT reported.
Photo: BCCL
Out of these, 711 people had died due to falling from running trains. Many commuters have even died by falling into the gap between trains and platforms while catching an alight train. Kalyan railway station recorded the highest number of deaths, 218 due to trespassing followed by Thane, Kurla and Borivali stations.
According to an RTI query in 2017, around 3,202 commuters lost their life on railway tracks alone. These ¡®Killer Platforms¡¯ even prompted Mumbai Central Railway to install blue visual indicators to guide commuters to not board a running train.
Photo: BCCL
The Central Railway will monitor the performance of the indicator and based on that a decision will be taken whether more such lights should be installed elsewhere also.
The good news is that the number of deaths has seen a 10% decline in 2018 as compared to 2017. Times of India reported that 2,734 deaths were recorded in 2018, a 20% fall since 2014 when 3,423 people had lost their lives.
Lack of infrastructure, commuter impatience, overcrowding were some of the possible reasons behind such high amount of deaths. ¡°Trespassing is the main problem. Many commuters jump from one platform to the other just to save 10 seconds, often at the cost of their lives,¡± a GRP officer told HT.
Photo: BCCL
On an average four people die everyday on Mumbai tracks due to trespassing. Senior RPF Divisional Security Commissioner Sachin Bhalode had told TOI that better patrolling and setting up of boundary walls across the suburban corridor helped in toning down the number of casualties.
Closing illegal entry points were necessary to curb the number of deaths on Railway tracks. The second major cause of death was falling from trains.
Meanwhile, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has directed the general managers (GMs) of both Western and Central Railway to take a fresh look at solutions suggested in order to curb deaths resulting on Mumbai Railway tracks.