09 December,2016 03:27 PM IST | | PTI
The Western Railway (WR) informed the Bombay High Court it would not be possible to run trains from Churchgate to Central Railway (CR) suburbs such as Thane, Dombivali and Ambarnath because of lack of space to lay down additional tracks for this purpose
The Western Railway (WR) informed the Bombay High Court it would not be possible to run trains from Churchgate to Central Railway (CR) suburbs such as Thane, Dombivali and Ambarnath because of lack of space to lay down additional tracks for this purpose.
This was intimated by WR officials at a high-level meeting called by the court to discuss ways to cope with 80 lakh commuters who travel daily by suburban trains on the Western and Central Railway routes.
The meeting was also called to discuss safety measures to be undertaken to prevent accidents on railway tracks. The high court is hearing a bunch of PILs which prayed that the Railways should adopt safety measures by putting up barricades at stations to prevent commuters from crossing tracks and thereby reducing accidents.
The court, during the hearing of PILs last month, had suggested that WR should consider running trains from Churchgate on the Western route to suburbs on the CR.
The WR operates suburban services from Churchgate, in South Mumbai, to up to Dahanu Road in adjoining Palghar district, covering a distance of 123km.
The CR, on the other hand, operates local train services from Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) - located 2km from Churchgate - to Karjat (in Raigad district) and Kasara (in Thane district).
However, the WR today said it was not possible to run services from Churchgate to suburbs such as Thane, Dombivali and Ambarnath on the CR due to lack of space to put additional tracks to facilitate such a journey.
Besides Railways, the meeting, held in the conference hall of the HC, was attended by officials of the Maharashtra Government, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, state-run agencies CIDCO and MMRDA and commuter organisations.
The gathering was presided over by a Division Bench headed by Justice V M Kanade.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) informed the HC that the number of accidental deaths reported this year was less compared to the last two years. Most of the people who died on tracks were in age group of 21-40 years.
Justice Kanade observed that almost 80 lakh commuters travel every day by local trains and this number was equivalent to the population of a European country. Hence, it is the Railways' paramount duty to adopt adequate safety measures to prevent accidents on tracks.
