First rail rooftop death in 2011: 25-year-old charred in Vasai

A 25-year-old commuter was electrocuted after he tried to travel on the rooftop of a local train at Vasai station during the morning rush hour.

The entire rush hour schedule went haywire after the railways had to switch off the power to bring down the charred remains of the man.

“The incident happened on the 8:32am Virar-Borivli train,” a senior railway official said. “Two trains were stuck behind one another on the same line. We managed to divert the others on the fast line.”

Murari Abhiram Chaudhari, a resident of Nallasopara, climbed on to the roof of the crowded train and was instantly electrocuted, the official said.

On Monday, a seven-year-old kite flyer was badly burnt after the kite string with metallic coating came in touch with a live wire at Borivli station.

Tuesday’s incident was the first rooftop death in 2011, according to railway statistics.

In 2009, the railways caught 2,134 people traveling on rooftops. At least 77 were jailed and Rs5.27 lakh was collected in fines. In 2010, there were five such incidents and three deaths. To deter commuters from traveling on rooftops, the Western Railway jailed 23 commuters, fined 670, and recovered Rs2 lakh in fines.

A Government Railway Police officer said that Chaudhari’s burning body was on the roof till the railways shut the power off. “We could not do anything till the power supply was stopped,” the officer said.

“After the conversion, the lines use 25,000 volts of alternating current instead of the 1,500 volts direct current,” another railway official said. “In the DC lines, electrocution happens only if one touches the wires. But in the AC lines, all those sitting within 2 metres of the overhead wires will be pulled towards the wires.”