No deaths were registered on Wednesday on the railway tracks across the suburban train network, the Government Railway Police (GRP) said. This is for the first time in more than five years that the there were zero deaths in a day on the railway network. However, 11 people, including three women, were hurt in mishaps at different stations.

A day earlier on Tuesday, five deaths were reported owing to mishaps across 138 stations, while 13 commuters were also injured.

On an average, at least eight commuters lose their lives every day, mostly owing to crossing tracks and falling off from overcrowded trains.

Last year, 2,981 commuters had lost their lives, of whom, 1619 died while crossing tracks and 711 died after falling from moving trains, GRP statistics revealed.

On the Central Railway (CR) alone, 1,022 commuters died owing to track crossing incidents. Sunil Udasi, public relations officer, CR, said to minimise deaths owing to trespassing, CR had closed boundary wall gaps at more than 100 locations in the past six months and constructed new boundary walls of around 13km in the past one year. CR also constructed 41 foot overbridges in the past 18 months across the network, Udasi said. He added that the railways also conducted several campaigns to create awareness about trespassing.

“More than 7,000 people were fined for trespassing. However, the drive against trespassing is an ongoing process and CR is committed to take all possible measures to prevent deaths owing to trespassing,” said Udasi.

At Dadar station, no deaths have been registered owing to trespassing, authorities said. “We have increased vigilance and policing, owing to which there has not been a single death due to trespassing at Dadar,” said Prasad Pandhare, senior police inspector of Dadar GRP.

First Published: Jun 28, 2019 01:17 IST