Chennai: One more falls to death from train

CHENNAI: It has been three months since the Chennai Railway Division sent a proposal to revise its timetable for suburban services and increase the frequency of trains in the Beach-Chengalpattu stretch. Yet, the top officials of Southern Railways are still sitting on the proposal while deaths due to passengers falling off overcrowded compartments continue.  

The latest victim is 65-year-old daily wage labourer Vinayagam. He boarded the Chengalpattu-Beach train at the Perungalathur station at around 9.30 on Tuesday morning. As the train was overcrowded, he was hanging on the footboard. As the train started moving from the station, Vinayagam lost his grip and fell on the platform. 

Vinayagam died before he could be rushed to the Chromepet Government Hospital. His head had crashed against the platform floor and he died of the impact. “We have held half-a-dozen agitations in the last one year, but Railways has not increased the train frequency,” says R Alex of Maraimalainagar, a regular commuter. 

“Instead of listening to our concerns, the railway police detain us at the station the whole day for protesting,” adds Alex. The demand for more services has only been increasing, thanks to rapid development of areas around Chengalpattu. Following the hike in bus fares in January last year, the number of train commuters in this section has crossed 1 lakh.   

“Several people have stopped using their own vehicles and are travelling by trains due to road congestion. Currently, we have a train every 10-15 minutes during the peak hours. This should be further improved to five minutes,” says R Selvam, another commuter from Singaperumalkoil.

Following the death of seven passengers travelling on the footboard of a suburban train near St. Thomas Mount station in June, railways had withdrawn services in the fast lines in the Beach-Chengalpattu section. Subsequently, the Chennai division planned to revise the timetable for suburban service by November 15 by introducing additional trains to decongest the section.

However, approvals are still pending from South Railways. When contacted, a Southern Railway official said the revision of suburban timetable was being studied by the zonal railways in view of ongoing engineering works. “The demand for additional trains will be looked into.” Will that happen before more precious lives are lost?

Deaths due to overcrowded trains

• Feb 23, 2017: Three killed and four injured after a group hanging on the footboard of a Chengalpattu-Beach fast local train hit the signal pole between Pazhavanthangal 

• and St Thomas Mount

• Jul 24, 2018: Two youths, who travelled on footboard of the Chengalpattu-bound local train, were killed after hitting concrete fence at St. Thomas Mount

• Jul 25, 2018: Five killed and five others injured after passengers of the overcrowded Beach-Tambaram EMU train hit the concrete fence at the St Thomas Mount station

• Feb 8, 2019 : A 16-year-old boy killed between Pazhavanthangal and St Thomas Mount

• Feb 12, 2019: A 65-year-old elderly man fell down on the platform of Perungalathur station from an overcrowded Chengalpattu-Beach train and died