Plugged 145 of 204 trespass-prone openings on suburban railway system: Central Railway to HC

Indian Express

16 hours ago

The Central Railway on Monday informed the Bombay High Court that of the 204 additional trespass-prone openings identified on the local railway system, 145 have been plugged and the rest will be done within a year.
The CR also submitted that 5, 564 deaths occurred between 2018 and May this year due to track crossing, while 2,769 cases were due to falling from the running train.
The HC was hearing the response by the railways on a PIL that raised concerns over the high rate of fatalities in the suburban railway system. In 2025, until May, CR has recorded 293 deaths due to track crossing and 150 due to falling from the running train.
A bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep V Marne was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Yatin Jadhav, a daily commuter who raised concerns over the high rate of fatalities in the second busiest suburban railway system in the world and sought the formation of an expert panel to recommend measures to eliminate deaths due to untoward incidents.
On June 20, the HC had expressed concern over the 'disturbing' situation of nearly 10 deaths occurring daily on Mumbai's suburban railway system. The bench had said that the 'unfortunate' Mumbra train accident reported last month, in which five commuters lost their lives after falling off overcrowded trains, should not have happened.
The court was informed that the railways have a high-level monitoring committee with a 'zero death mission', and a multi-disciplinary committee headed by a senior divisional safety officer was formed to examine what led to the accident in Mumbai.
Pravindra Wanjari, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Mumbai of CR enumerated measures adopted by it to redress issues and stated that projects such as Panvel-Karjat suburban corridor, Kalwa-Airoli elevated corridor, third and fourth line between Kalyan-Badlapur will be 'progressively' done within three to four years.
Moreover, the third line between Kalyan and Kasara is scheduled to be completed by December 2026. Among other projects, the fifth and sixth line between Kurla and CSMT is undertaken, of which Kurla-Parel (Phase-1) is scheduled to be completed by June 2027.
However, the same is affected by private land acquisition and issues of Project Affected Persons (PAPs), the affidavit stated.
'The Central Railway Suburban system in itself is a complex network. During monsoon, the work gets slowed down, as no digging is done due to safety reasons. Further, the work is to be carried out ensuring safety of a large volume of traffic. The major work is carried out only during night blocks,' the affidavit stated.
Moreover, the CR said the requests were sent to nearly 800 establishments to make staggered office hours to reduce peak-hour rush. Earlier this month, the Indian Express reported that only 46 establishments had responded positively.
The HC was further informed that an investigation by multi-disciplinary team has been constituted to probe the June 9 Mumbra incident convened by a senior divisional safety officer and the investigation is underway. The HC will hear the PIL next week.