07 October,2011 07:45 AM IST | | Shashank Rao
After Mulund, CR has identified Vikhroli and Kurla as sites to put up barricades between the tracks and at platform ends citing frequent trespassing at these stations
After a 55-year-old woman was hit by an oncoming train at Vikhroli station while she was crossing the tracks around 12.30 pm yesterday, railway authorities are considering putting up barricades at platform ends at
Vikhroli and other stations as well to deter trespassers and encourage the use of foot overbridges. As of now,
only Mulund station has these barricades.
Stop before you hop: The fences put up by Central Railway at the end
of platforms at Mulund station have not deterred commuters from jumping
off and on trains straight from the tracks. Pic/sameer markande
Concerned over the recurring deaths related to trespassing, the Central Railway (CR) authorities, in a meeting with passenger associations held in September, had discussed the idea of erecting fences at the ends of platforms, as well as between tracks. The idea was proposed by the commuter associations.
"We are studying this proposal. It could be implemented at selective stations, once they are identified," said Rahul Jain, divisional railway manager, CR. Sources in CR said that they have identified stations like Kurla and Vikhroli on the main line where trespassing incidents are frequent.
As a pilot project, authorities have made the fencing arrangement on platforms 1, 2 and 3 of Mulund railway station following the meeting. They are now planning to duplicate it at other vulnerable stations, and Vikhroli easily makes the cut, given the frequent accidents that occur here. However, nothing has been finalised yet.
"We have also asked the railway administration to fit extended fences between tracks so that people have no scope to cross tracks," said Madhu Kotian of Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh who had attended the meeting. It has been learnt that the CR will soon barricade the gap between two tracks on the CST-Kurla stretch on the Central and the Harbour line.
Said a CR official, "It has been observed that people, especially senior citizens, walk till the end of the platform and cross tracks."
