MUMBAI: Accidental deaths on railways in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region started to climb as the city unlocked and more categories of passengers were permitted to board local trains. From 558 deaths in January-March 2020, fatalities had dipped to 115 in April-July, and more than doubled to 314 in August-November. Though locals were not operational from March 22 till mid-June, fatalities continued to occur in this period, largely due to trespassers getting knocked down by goods trains or workmen specials. Track-crossing contributed to 64% of all 987 deaths this year and remained the leading cause of rail accidents.
“Fatalities are unlikely to reduce drastically unless a complete compound wall or fencing comes up, bordering the tracks throughout Central and Western lines,” said GRP commissioner Ravindra Sengaonkar. Earlier this year, two teenagers — Akash Rathod and Chhotu Chauhan — died after being knocked down by a train at Dahisar. The two had slid onto railway premises through a gap in the compound wall. In June, octogenarian Vitthal Mulye, who was being treated for Covid at a civic hospital died, while crossing the tracks at Kandivli. Mulye had left the hospital without informing anyone.
The railways said that encroachment along tracks is one of the key causes of trespassing. “Drives to remove encroachments are being carried out regularly. More than 600 encroachments were removed from various locations on WR last year and another 980 were removed until July this year,” said chief PRO Sumit Thakur. Work on construction of a boundary wall over a stretch of 17.10 km is going on on WR. “Divider fencing between two sets of tracks has been put up in the Churchgate–Virar section, except at four locations,” Thakur added.
CR said it had provided 76 escalators, 40 lifts and 50 foot over-bridges or subways. Over 23,000 trespassers and foot-board travellers were booked in 2019-20 on CR.
The Kalyan-Kasara and Kalyan-Badlapur belts together were the deadliest this year, claiming 158 lives. Thane-Diva, Diva-Kalamboli and Thane-Airoli sections saw high number of fatalities
(127) together. Over 800 male commuters died in mishaps which is more than seven times the number of female.
The Jogeshwari-Vile Parle belt witnessed the biggest drop in casualties between January and November 2020 compared to the same period last year. From 99 casualties, the figure dropped 76% to 24. One reason could be closure of Mumbai Metro services till October which translated into fewer passengers at Andheri railway station.