RPF cracks down on trespassers in Mumbai

The drive last week brought down the number of railway accidents considerably, say officials

Taking note of the success of their drive against trespassing, the railway protection force (RPF) officials now plan to intensify the drive.

The RPF has identified and increased patrolling at stretches, where crossing the railway tracks is a common occurrence.

In a special drive on December 10, the railway authorities caught more than 10,000 offenders on the central and western line.

Of these, more than 7,000 commuters were caught only on western line.

Officials said a majority of people caught crossing the tracks are from slum pockets located along the railway tracks.

On the western line, trespassing is witnessed near Elphinstone Road, Bandra-Matunga Road, Borivli-Malad and beyond Dahisar.

On the Central Railway, officials said instances of trespassing are more on the harbour line between GTB Nagar and Reay Road, Mankhurd and Sanpada.

People are often seen crossing the railway tracks on the trans-harbour route that connects Thane and Vashi owing to the poor infrastructure.

So, instead of imposing fines, the RPF has started giving red roses to trespassers.

According to railway officials, crossing railway tracks accounts for most railway-related deaths.

Currently, the number of accidental deaths stands at 11 a day.

Between December 9 and December 16, 54 people died in railway-related accidents and 77 were injured.

The authorities again started their drive from December 13, which brought down the number of accidental deaths to 20 and left 34 injured.

“We are focusing on bringing down the number of deaths using all the available resources. The number of deaths has come down in last fortnight. At Jogeshwari, we closed the illegal entry point, but people broke it open. The drive has helped us identify spots in dire need of a foot overbridge or road overbridge,” said Anand Jha, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF, WR.