DNA: Mumbai: Tuesday,
February 09, 2016.
Rail-related accidents have claimed 50,000
lives in Mumbai from 2002 to 2015, an RTI query has revealed.
As per figures provided by the railway police
commissionerate, during the same period, an equal number of people were
injured.
The RTI application was filed by Chetan
Kothari. The central railway, which has approximately 200 km of route under it,
saw as many as 30,351 deaths. The western railway, which has a 120 km network,
followed with19,852 deaths.
The maximum number of deaths, at 31,515,
occurred while crossing railway lines. That was followed by death due to fall
from trains.
Falling from trains accounted for maximum
injuries.
Kurla on the central line and Borivli on the
western line saw the maximum casuaties. Over 6,591 people lost their lives in
Kurla for different reasons in the 13- year period while the figure for Borivli
stood at 5,494. An RTI application had earlier revealed that Kurla is the fifth
most-populated station on the central line and Borivli the most populated on
the western line.
While 28,267 people were injured in the central
line, 22,236 people were injured in the western line.
"It is high time the railways did
something to address the issue. The railways need to have wider foot over
bridges (FOB) and regulate track-crossing. They need to keep the FOBs clear and
not cancel or move trains to other platforms that gets commuters to cross
tracks," said Kothari.
While the divisional managers of central and
western railways were not available for comment, Prabhat Sahai, chariman and
managing director of Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation, said: "Railways are
working towards reducing causalties and injuries. As per MUTP 2, 12 stations
have been identified where work on FOB, boundary walls, fencing between tracks
and escalators are being taken up. The work on all of them will be over by
December. That apart, as per MUTP 3, we have selected 22 locations where work
will start."