New Delhi, Jul 23 (PTI) A total of 2,282 fatalities were reported on Mumbai’s suburban railway network in 2024 due to trespassing, pole hitting, falling from running trains and in platform gaps and other reasons, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Vaishnaw’s written reply was in response to the issue of commuters’ safety on Mumbai suburban trains raised by Congress MP Sasikanth Senthil.
The minister said that ‘police’ and ‘public order’ are state subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution and therefore, state governments are responsible for prevention, detection, registration, and investigation of crime and maintenance of law and order on Railways through their law enforcement agencies, viz. Government Railway Police (GRP)/district police.
“Railway Protection Force (RPF) supplements the efforts of GRP/ district police to provide better protection and security to railway property, passenger area and passengers and for matters connected therewith,” he said.
He added, “As per information received from GRP, 2,282 fatalities were reported on Mumbai’s suburban railway network in 2024 due to various reasons such as trespassing, pole hitting, falling from running trains, falling in platform gap etc.” Giving the district-wise fatalities in the suburban railway network, Vaishnaw said that while Mumbai reported 1408 fatalities, Thane recorded 615 such cases. He added that Raigarh and Navi Mumbai registered 128 and 131 cases of fatalities respectively.
Talking about the recent train incident in Mumbai suburban, he said a committee has been constituted to investigate the cause of the incident near Mumbra station.
He also highlighted passenger safety initiatives and said that the introduction of AC local trains equipped with automatic doors in Mumbai has been a welcome initiative to enhance commuters’ safety and reduce incidents related to overcrowding.
“The automatic doors prevent passengers from hanging on footboards or boarding moving trains which is a major cause of fatal accidents. These doors remain closed while the train is in motion and open only at stations when the train is stationary, thereby significantly reducing the risk of falls,” Vaishnaw said.
“Increase in frequency of the train services including suburban train services is an ongoing process over Indian Railways subject to operational feasibility, traffic justification and availability of resources etc,” he added. PTI JP ZMN
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