On duty railway police constable among 5 dead in Mumbra local train accident
Among the five passengers who fell off a local train and died near Mumbra in Thane on Monday is a railway police constable who was on duty at the time of the accident.
Vicky Babasaheb Mukhyadal, 34, who was attached to the Thane Government Railway Police (GRP), was headed to work in civilian clothes when he lost his life. Senior GRP officers said Mukhyadal was transferred from Kalyan GRP a year ago.
'He was a very smart policeman with good crime detection skills. He used to live in Kalyan with his family. The body will soon be handed over to them,' said Sudhakar Shirsat, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Thane GRP.
Mukhyadal and four other passengers were on two local trains, one bound for CSMT and the other for Kalyan, when they fell off along with the others near Mumbra railway station on Monday morning, a GRP officer said, citing inputs from the preliminary inquiry. Seven others were injured in the incident.
The passengers reportedly fell around 9 am while the Kasara-bound train, which started from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), was passing through the Diva-Mumbra area. People hanging off this train's footboard collided with the passengers who were similarly clinging on to another train that was passing in the opposite direction towards CSMT, causing the accident, sources said.
The Central Railway authorities confirmed that another train was passing towards the opposite side, resulting in the accident.
The Mumbra police reached the accident spot and rushed the victims to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital, Kalwa, where five were declared dead. While authorities are trying to determine what exactly caused the accident, sources said it occurred because the train was overcrowded and passengers were standing on either side of its doors.
'Accident-prone area'
A GRP officer said the stretch has become 'accident-prone' in recent years, especially for fast-moving trains.
There is a possibility that the tracks got pushed down a little due to the recent heavy rainfall in the area, eventually reducing the distance between trains, the officer indicated. Though the distance reduced between the tracks in this manner could be by a small margin, during peak hours, when passengers travel on the footboard due to crowding, it could lead to fatal incidents. A thorough probe is, however, underway to ascertain the exact cause behind the incident.
Following the accident, the Railway Board announced that all trains being manufactured for the Mumbai Suburban region will have an automatic door-closing feature. Rakes that are in service will also be redesigned, and the same feature will be added.
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