15000 Die on India Rails a Year

This week, it was revealed that nearly 15,000 people die on India’s railway network every year. A high-level railway panel voiced serious safety concerns about encroachments along the tracks and trespassing. It suggested that amendments be made to existing acts and that a task force be set up in Mumbai, where the most deaths occur.

Anil Kakodkar, who leads the railway safety committee, says that no civilized society can accept such a high number of deaths on its own rail network. He suggest that amendments be made to the Railway Act and Public Premises Eviction Act so that encroachers are severely penalized. The committee has been informed that a large amount of accidents take place because of unlawful trespassing, which is estimated to kill nearly 15,000 people a year across the whole rail system. About 6,000 (40%) of these deaths are in the Mumbai suburban area alone.

Kakodkar continued that the reluctance of Indian Railways to admit the casualties can’t be ignored. They blame the high number of deaths on inadequacies in providing proper facilities and feel the bleak situation on Mumbai’s suburban lines has to be dealt with on a war-like level. Trespassing there happens due to a lack of fencing, barricading, adequate pedestrian over-bridges and facilities like elevators for the disabled, escalators and platforms. These are the main reasons for the heavy casualties and are clearly the responsibility of the railways, Kakodkar went on. They can’t claim urban transport isn’t their responsibility as an excuse. It’s the strong recommendation of the committee that a high-level task force be formed and involve the state government, NGOs to recommend constructive measures and zonal passenger body.

The committee also said that a large section of Indian Railways is liable to outside interference. It had firsthand experience of immense encroachment very close to the rail lines in the Delhi area. Overhead electric wiring masts were seen nearly inside the houses in some places, while groups of people were seen squatting on the tracks. It’s understood that removing encroachment isn’t possible because of political interference related with relocating the population that is affected. The committee recommends that the issue be addressed at the political level to make sure all such encroachments are removed from the vicinity of the railway in the interest of public safety.

The report noted that that the data it based its conclusions on didn’t include near misses or minor accidents. It recommends a budget of around $20 billion to implement the changes over the next five years. The demands on the rail network are quickly growing without adequate investments for improved technology and modernization consistent with the times.

Meanwhile, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi has revealed that women RPF personnel will be deployed on trains for the safety of female passengers. This comes as serious note has been taken on the incidents of harassment. Trivedi said that they won’t accept any kind of disorder. They will also seek the cooperation of state police to provide passengers with safe journeys.

This follows several recommendations being submitted by a committee appointed by Railways to determine how to improve passenger safety. It would be hard to fulfill the demands from various quarters for more trains unless the modernization of railway infrastructure isn’t carried out. The ministry is awaiting a committee report on modernization, he added.