Almost double the number of 7/11 deaths occur on Mumbai's railway tracks every single month. And this without any act of terrorism. That's what the statistics compiled by the government railway police states.
According to figures between Jan-Oct 2006, 3,395 suburban commuters have died on the city's railway tracks due to various reasons like falling from trains, crossing tracks, dashing to poles or slipping between platform and train gaps.
This simply means that 10 people have died on the city's tracks per day and 300 a month.
Of the 3,395, 2,951 are males and 444 females. In the injured list the total figure is 3,444. While the maximum number of deaths are due to trespassing in tracks, the second reason is due to falling from running trains followed by dashing to electric poles and falling between gap of platform and train.
This year the number of commuters falling from trains has significantly gone up as compared to that last year. While in the entire last year 494 commuters died and 1,639 were injured due to falling from running trains, this year the death figure has already reached 631 and the injured figure 1,639 till October 2006.
Actor Nasseruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak-Shah's son fell from a fast local headed to Churchgate at 8:50 am near Lower Parel station on Thursday morning and he was first spotted by the staff in the nearby railway control tower.
The control tower staff informed the Lower Parel station master A Kambli, who rushed to the spot with a railway police constable. "The victim was not in a state to say anything and we never knew that he was Naseer's son. As per the rules, the police took the victim to the government-run Nair Hospital," a WR spokesperson said.
Actor Nasseruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak-Shah's son fell from a fast local headed to Churchgate at 8:50 am near Lower Parel station on Thursday morning and he was first spotted by the staff in the nearby railway control tower.
The control tower staff informed the Lower Parel station master A Kambli, who rushed to the spot with a railway police constable. "The victim was not in a state to say anything and we never knew that he was Naseer's son. As per the rules, the police took the victim to the government-run Nair Hospital," a WR spokesperson said.
On the increasing number of deaths, the railways say they are doing everything possible to curb the number of deaths. An official spokesperson on CR said the railways had identified accident-prone spots along the line and installed hooters and constructing compound walls.
"We are issuing ads in newspapers, displaying boards and making announcements on the public address system to create more awareness about the issue," the spokesperson said.
WR too has taken up measures like fencing along the tracks and making announcements, a WR spokesperson said. But there is no stopping of the deaths on railway tracks.