Trespassing, a fatal alternative

Little did 12-year-old Shrushti think that her mother, Neelam Omprakash Pandey, was walking into the jaws of death around 10.30pm on August 22 when the 35-year-old left her in charge of her 10-month-old sibling at the Dadar station, promising to be back in five minutes. Shrushti watched her mother struggling to make up her mind over stepping into a dark and dingy public toilet at the south end of the station and then choosing to squat on the tracks nearby, instead. Within seconds, a Kalyan local entering the station ran over Pandey, killing her instantly. A shocked Shrushti was still clutching her brother while being led away by a woman constable to the police station some time later.

Sixty-five-year-old Dwarka Seth was waiting to climb a narrow foot overbridge at the Parel station in August. With too many passengers clambering towards the bridge, Seth fell off the narrow platform on to the tracks. He was saved from being hit by a train by other commuters in the nick of time. A new foot overbridge at the north end of the station is not of much help since it’s out of most commuters’ way.

The Kanjurmarg station is the nearest station to the world-class Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay and other high-profile workplaces in Powai. The fastest way to get to the institute is via the flyover just south of the station. But hundreds of commuters are forced to cross the tracks as a shortcut every day to reach this bridge from the west end. A simple skywalk would have solved the problem. Thanks to a planning gaffe, though, crores of rupees were blown on building a skywalk in a no-use area on the east end of the station.

Who is to blame?
Over 4,000 commuters die each year on the tracks of the Mumbai’s suburban railway, which ferries about seven million commuters every day. Many fall off crowded trains; several others are run over by locals while crossing tracks. The newest victims are those who plug in earphones and stay completely oblivious to their surroundings, including the warnings hoots of an approaching train.

Much of the blame for track-trespassing lies with the sorry state of public infrastructure and utilities at city stations.

Stung by a report on track deaths of a high-level safety review committee, led by Dr Anil Kakodkar and appointed by the national railway board, alleging that the casualty on the Mumbai’s suburban railway is the highest in the country, local railway administrators recently conducted a series of studies and analyses on the city’s rail lines and identified 14 locations and 51 trouble spots which lead to trespassing. The surveyors even came up with detailed solutions to tackle the problem.

The railway board committee’s report had stated that of the 15,000 people who die on tracks due to trespassing every year in the country, about 6,000 are from Mumbai. A recent reply to a right to information application had revealed that nearly 40,000 people died on the city’s tracks and as many were injured between 2002 and 2011. So, on an average, 10-12 commuters die due to rail accidents in Mumbai every day.

“We feel the grim situation of the Mumbai suburban system has to be tacked on a war footing. Here, trespassing occurs due to the absence of barricades and fences as well as the shortage of foot overbridges, wider platforms, escalators for the physically-challenged and train services. These are the main reasons for such a high death toll,” stated the Kakodkar committee’s report, castigating the suburban railways, which was submitted to the ministry of railways.

“The reluctance of the Indian railways to own up responsibility for the casualties, which although don’t fall under their purview of accidents are nevertheless, accidents on account of trains, can by no means be ignored. No civilised society can accept such a massacre on its railway system,’’ added the committee that had railway expert E Sreedharan as its advisor.

Finding the cure-all

To find a solution to the problem of deaths caused by trespassing, the city’s railway think-tank — the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) — and the World Bank undertook a study, in collaboration with JJ School of Architecture, of 11 stations each on the Central Railway and the Western Railway, and found more than 51 trouble spots in 14 locations along the two railway lines.
“The study highlighted the need to prevent and minimise trespassing on tracks by providing more bridges, elevators, barricades and by reorganising built-up spaces,” explains Rakesh Saksena, managing director of MRVC.

The projected cost of improving the aesthetics of railway stations is Rs120 crore. The MRVC has requested the World Bank to take some funds from the Mumbai Urban Transport Project-II for the station renovation project. But, the proposal has not yet been sanctioned and is lying in the department of economic affairs. “The project will get the money once it gets sanctioned,” says Atul Agarwal, World Bank transport team task leader.

The shortlisted stations have been studied in detail to identify the movement patterns of commuters during different periods of a day as well as on working days and holidays. These findings have been used to identify the trouble spots for each of the shortlisted stations.

After interacting with commuters on reasons for trespassing, the team proposed five solutions at the trouble spots — building more foot overbridges, railings between two tracks (also called the track divider), boundary walls, green patches and reorganisation of built spaces.

The study found that there was no one particular reason for trespassing. “For example, at Nallasopara, Mumbra and Kandivli stations, commuters choose not to use the foot overbridge. At the Kalyan station, a level-crossing provided for transporting goods by a handcart to the goods yard is being misused by commuters/two-wheeler riders,” says its report.

At many busy stations, like in Thane, trespassing can be seen up to 300m on either side of the railway platforms. The problem peaks during rush hours as commuters resort to shortcuts to change platforms or to get out of a crowded station. “It has also been observed that foot overbridges or subways are neither aesthetic nor commuter-friendly. Also, there is no provision for escalators and lifts for the physically-challenged,” states the JJ report said, adding that there is a lack of signage/information boards for the commuters. Last-minute announcements about changes in train service schedules add to the commuters’ confusion.

“Implementation of our solutions will decrease the number of injuries and casualties due to trespassing at the chosen stations by 75-80%. The suggested preventive measures will be effective if enough amenities are provided to commuters for comfortable movement on railway stations,” the report states.

Slashing casualty rate
To find a solution to the problem of deaths caused by trespassing, the city’s railway think-tank — the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) — and the World Bank undertook a study, in collaboration with JJ School of Architecture, of 11 stations each on the Central Railway and the Western Railway, and found more than 51 trouble spots in 14 locations along the two railway lines
The team believes that if its suggestions are implemented, the number of injuries and casualties due to trespassing will drop by 75-80%.

Trouble spots
Dadar Western, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Kandivli, Borivli, Bhayandar, Vasai Road, Nallasopara, Dadar Central, Kurla, Kanjurmarg, Thane, Thakurli, Kalyan

The five solutions
Foot overbridges, Railings, Green patches, Boundary walls,
Space reorganisation