CHANDIGARH: A two-year-old girl severely injured her foot after it got caught in an
escalator at the Chandigarh
railway station because no advisory on using the machine had been placed anywwhere at the station, according to the report of an inquiry carried out in the wake of the accident which took place on Monday.
Because of this, the
Ambala division of Northern Railways decided on Tuesday to place an advisory at all prominent places of the station. In the inquiry report, it was stated that the accident took place because there was no such advisory near entry points.
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People from diverse strata and backgrounds — some even illiterate — can be seen transiting a railway station. In case of a relatively new facility like an escalator, the authorities should have put up advisories in tandem with deploying staffers to guide the passengers using the escalators as some people may not be able to read the notices. In fact, given the rush and jostling on the platforms prior to the arrival of trains, it would be advisable for the authorities to post staffers at the start and disembarking points of the escalator, where the possibility of accidents is greater.
The child is still admitted in the PGIMER. Meanwhile,
Ambala divisional railway manager Dinesh Sharma visited the station in the wake of the incident and directed officials to identify areas at the station where the advisory could be placed to guide passengers on how to use an escalator.
Sharma said they were also going to ask the firm which installed the escalator to suggest ways to raise awareness among passengers on how to use an escalator. He said they had started repairing the escalator as a fault had developed in it while rescuing the child.
The advisory, he said, will be in English and Hindi languages. For now, the advisory has been placed in English and Hindi languages near the escalator.
The inquiry report also stated that there was no technical fault in the escalator on Platform 1 of the station, where the accident took place on Tuesday. In the report, it was stated that the mother told officials of the railways that she was holding the child along with the luggage in the other hand. While using the escalator, the child accidentally fell and her foot got trapped between the
sidewalls and steps.
The child was barefoot. When the child slipped, her feet crossed the yellow lines towards the side walls of the escalators and her foot got trapped between the sidewalls and steps. However, the minimal standard gap was covered from top to bottom of the escalator with a skirt safety, but the child got trapped because of the force with which she fell.
Railway staff inspect the escalator and passengers were not able to use the machinery as it developed a snag in Monday’s accident
