The western suburb tops four stations across CR and WR in highest number of deaths; reckless line crossing is main reason for deaths, while commuters falling off packed compartments is top reason for injuries
Passengers cross the tracks to catch a train at Kurla railway station. File Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Hurry to catch local trains has claimed the most lives on the Mumbai suburban railway in 2022, according to the official statistics. While crossing of rail tracks has killed 1,118 people, 700 others died after falling off running trains. Overall, 2,507 people died on the rail premises last year due to various reasons, with CR reporting most fatalities.
While crossing of tracks is the prime killer, most injuries have been caused due to commuters falling from running trains, according to the data released by the Government Railway Police (GRP), acquired by activist Samir Zaveri through an RTI query. The statistics include figures from all 17 police stations across the Mumbai suburban railway network, which comprises 117 stations - 80 on CR and 37 on WR.
The GRP report, a copy of which is with mid-day, shows that 2,507 people died and 2,155 were injured on the Mumbai suburban railway in 2022. While 1,585 people were killed in accidents on Central Railway, 922 died on Western Railway.
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A woman holding a child and another kid run across the tracks at Ambivli railway station, on September 11, 2022. Pic/Sameer Markande
While 100 people died by suicide, 531 deaths were reported as death by natural causes while travelling on trains or at stations. Besides, 11 people died after falling into gaps, 12 after hitting poles, 11 were electrocuted and 16 died due to other reasons. The reason behind the death of 17 people has not been ascertained, as their post-mortem result is pending.
A detailed study of the charts reveals that four suburban railway stations - Borivli, Thane, Kurla and Vasai - reported most deaths due to crossing of tracks. Among the 2,155 injured people, 201 were hurt while crossing the tracks while 1,026 survived with injuries after falling from running trains.
Zaveri said, “My contention is that we can still save more lives on the Mumbai suburban railway. After my public interest litigation, the Bombay High Court on March 26, 2009, ordered that emergency medical rooms (EMR) at stations stay open 24x7. However, the order is not being followed.
“Recently, after my complaint, Western Railway conducted surprise inspections and found EMRs by a service provider at multiple stations closed for 12 hours, from 8 pm to 8 am, and imposed a penalty of Rs 40,000. I request the Mumbai suburban railway authorities to issue guidelines, asking the on-duty station master to check whether EMRs are open at night.”
Rail officials said the railways authorities in Mumbai have been working on trespass control programmes, building foot overbridges and counselling commuters to prevent such accidents. “On WR, there are 146 foot overbridges (FOB), with 13 built in 2022 alone, while CR has 206 foot overbridges, including the nine built in 2022. More FOBs have been planned. We also expect commuters to cooperate and not cross the tracks,” an official said.
1,026
No of commuters hurt after falling off running trains in 2022
100
No of deaths by suicide on rail premises in 2022
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