3 commuters fall off Mumbai Metro platform in separate incidents

Careless Metro rail commuters, straying over the yellow line, have fallen off the platform at Andheri, in three separate incidents in the past few weeks.

The most recent incident was on August 2, a train pilot applied the emergency brakes after he spotted a person lying on the rail while approaching Andheri station.

An alert station assistant also responded quickly, informing the control room and picking up the elderly woman from the track. She suffered a fracture, but a serious accident was averted. The pilot was felicitated last week.

In the other two other incidents, the commuters were apparently staring at the time boards on the platform or wandered a little too far while enjoying the swanky layout of the station, when they stepped over the edge and fell on the tracks. However, they escaped without much harm.

Andheri has recorded the second highest footfalls after Ghatkopar on the 11-km line between Versova and Ghatkopar that was opened on June 8. About 20 per cent of the total commuters on the Metro have travelled from or to Andheri, 27 per cent through Ghatkopar and 12 per cent at Versova. The remainder have been through the other nine stations on the route.

Metro officials explain that a minimum two staffers are on duty on each platform to caution commuters against crossing the yellow line but there are some who will willfully disobey instructions. Many others are simply careless.

Although, it has to be said, Andheri also has one of the narrowest platforms.

These incidents have given rise to a proposal for full height screen doors on platforms, similar to the ones on the Airport Express Metro in New Delhi. Alternatively, there could be barricades at the edge of the platform, like on the monorail.

On July 1 too, there was a case of trespassing at Jagruti Nagar station and the metro pilot had to bring the train to a standstill way ahead of the stop marker. The train was halted for seven minutes to evacuate the track and this delayed two more trains for 12 minutes.

A Mumbai Metro spokesperson confirmed the incidents and said, "Such incidents happen generally due to human error of commuters. We have been educating the commuters on safe usage of the metro system and will continue to do so."