Mumbai: Safety on Mumbai’s suburban trains, used by millions of commuters daily, has always been a concern in the city, and constant attempts to improve it have been painfully slow, with the latest survey indicating reasons why commuters are worried.
Safety is a major issue among commuters during peak times as trains are overcrowded with passengers risking their lives by hanging out of the trains. Safety of women commuters, who constitute 20 per cent of overall passengers carried, is a troubling factor as well, although railway authorities claim to have taken action by posting female police at stations and in compartments.
“Lady police were inconspicuous by their absence at most of the stations. Where present, they were not available near the ladies’ compartments,” says a Social Audit Survey of Mumbai Suburban Railway Network.
The survey has been released by Moneylife Foundation, a Mumbai-based non-profit organisation, which runs a free helpline on railway issues. The quick audit at 10 preselected stations each on the Central, Western and Central Harbour Lines in Mumbai found that 93 per cent of stations still have “killer gaps” on railway platforms and 10 per cent of stations are currently working on increasing platform height.
The organisation’s survey comes after the Railways launched a major drive to increase platform height and to improve various passenger amenities for commuters in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. In May, the Petitions Committee of Parliament visited Mumbai to check this project, and Moneylife Foundation was invited for the discussion. In order to gauge the extent of these changes as a part of a Social Audit Project, the Foundation assigned two students — Ricky Vella and Hong Leanne Truong — from the University of Western Sydney, Australia, who (with the help from railway activists) did a quick audit at 10 preselected stations on each of the three suburban lines in Mumbai between June 22 and July 16.
Their report states: “A shockingly large gap opened up between the platforms and the train floorboard due to the introduction of new Siemens rakes under the World Bank funded MUTP [Mumbai Urban Transport Project]. A number of commuters have lost their lives or limbs by falling into what became known as the “killer gap” leading to a huge public outcry.”
Mumbai’s suburban trains are used by over 7.5 million people everyday and have a terrible record of about 3,600 annual fatalities with an equal number of people suffering serious injuries — this is an average of 10-12 people dying every day. “The Mumbai Suburban Railway System is one of the most perilous transport services in the world,” it added.
What also worries commuters are the inadequate number of conveniently located foot overbridges, track crossings, sudden changes in platforms of scheduled trains, lack of medical facilities, amenities, hygiene and sanitation.
Hawkers and beggars were found on foot overbridges and, more importantly, 57 per cent of stations did not have railings to prevent the crossing of tracks. Moreover, only 17 per cent of stations had an acceptable cleanliness and sanitation levels.
While emergency medical rooms should be implemented at select stations at the earliest as per the Bombay High Court order, requirements of medical supplies should be strictly enforced, the report noted. “Stretchers much be maintained properly and must meet requisite hygiene standards. For example, at Nallasopara Station, the metal stretchers had dried blood on it. This can be potentially deadly for those injured with open wounds.”
It recommended that “closed doors should be made mandatory as the safety of commuters should be considered of utmost importance. Even if commuters complain that they cannot reach work on time, safety and the lives of commuters dictate that the doors should be closed,” says the survey.
Another recommendation is to introduce double-decker trains considering the large volume of people that the system carries. Greater importance should be placed on the station signage for effective communication to commuters.
