In the last three years — between 2015 and 2017 — there have been 9,520 accidental deaths on the suburban railway network wherein the majority of deaths are attributed to crossing of tracks and falling down from train.
The number of accidental deaths, however, has come down marginally in 2017 as compared to 2016 and 2015.
According to the data of Mumbai Railway Police Commissionerate, there were 3,304 accidental in 2015 followed by 3,202 in 2016 while there were 3,014 such deaths in 2017.
In the same period around 10,057 cases of injuries were reported on the suburban railway corridors including Central, Western and Harbour that has around 2,979 train services carrying around 76 lakh passengers per day on an average. Majority of the accidental deaths reported between 2015 and 2017 were due to line crossing.
In the last three years, 5,250 accidental deaths were due to line crossing, 2,117 due to falling from train, 71 due to falling in gap, 33 due to hitting railway poles, and 2,049 due to other reasons which includes natural death or suicide.
In case of injuries, majority were reported due to falling down from train. Between 2015 and 2017, 4,629 injuries were reported due to falling from train, 1,223 due to crossing of tracks, 51 due to falling in gap, 264 due to hitting railway poles, and 3,890 due to other reasons.
REASON
Overcrowding of suburban trains has been attributed as one of the primary reasons behind the accidents as the railway has reached its saturation point when it comes to the carrying capacity of passengers in local trains.
