Death rides on bogey of problems

The triple death near St Thomas Mount railway station may have been a gruesome accident for onlookers, but, for southern railway (SR), it’s just another addition to their statistics. This is no exaggeration. On an average, two people die on tracks in Chennai railway division daily.

Informed railway sources revealed to DT Next that suicide and illegal crossing of tracks account for most of the 750 deaths reported every year. Incidents like Thursday’s fatal fall from moving train, though not substantial in the overall scenario, reinforce the reinforce the numbers in the death count of SR, courtesy a plethora of problems like low public awareness, understaffed Railway Protection Force and low frequency of train service contributing to it.

Even in the case of the Tirumalpur-Beach EMU from which the seven people fell, the train was late by nearly 30 minutes. Commuters had risked traveling on footboard as the train was among the 12 fast services operated in the entire day. Another train would not have reached for another 30 minutes at least.  

However, the frequency of services on Beach -Tambaram gives no cause for comfort to commuters either. The frequency of suburban trains on Beach-Tambaram line, even during peak hours (8pm-9pm and 5pm-7pm) is only 7 to 8 minutes, while the same would increase up to 15 minutes during non-peak hours, which contributes to overcrowding of trains. 

Loco pilots operating on the route conceded that the route had reached its saturation point long ago and the EMUs (A 12 car EMU carries 2,200 people, including 1,000 standing) on the route were carrying threefold over their original capacity. Manning coaches and restricting overloading on suburban sections is near impossible, for, the 1700-personnel ‘rich’ Chennai RPF  division (personnel requirement was worked out decades back) only has enough people depute on the two ladies/first class coaches after dark, while most of its work force is deployed on track patrolling, platform duty and station gates. 

The highest RFP has deployed is 30 plus personnel at Chennai Central, while even a busy station like Tambaram has only 8 personnel maximum to man the entire station. Senior divisional security commissioner K K Ashraff who claimed that they book an average 200 cases per day and go for regular “foot plate” inspection in engines to monitor illegal crossing among other activities on tracks, told this paper that they have identified 51 vulnerable places, including Chetpet, Hindu College, Egmore, Nungambakkam, Ambattur and Nemmellichery where additional force has been deployed to monitor illegal crossing, nefarious activities and movement of suspicious people with arms. 

RPF has an exclusive team headed by a sub inspector whose job it is to visit 25 colleges and schools to educate people about the dangers of crossing, which has been the biggest killer on the city’s tracks. However, ticketing inspectors on the route conceded that high on RPF’s priority was booking cases and they ought to do more on public  awareness front.

Average daily carrying capacity on suburban section is  around 12 lakh (nearly 35 per cent are women).

RPF has ordered a special drive following Thursday's triple death.

A High Court ruling insists on railways fixing doors in all suburban trains. Though it is possible to close EMU doors, SR officers suspect that it would be a major operational difficulty, which would further worsen the frequency by a few more minutes. Hence, they would have to choose between carrying more people daily and facing an occasional accident like Thursday or close the doors and reduce the frequency. 

Commercial inspectors on the route who claimed that the frequency (timing) was worked out when the route had level crossings aplenty, said the frequency has not been reduced to three or minutes for want of rakes. 

RPF audit has also revealed vulnerable places on Tambaram-Beach route where presence of liquor shops not far from the tracks was resulting in untoward incidents. 

RPF claims it has also identified 25 colleges and schools on the suburban section to specifically educate the students as they fall within the vulnerable track death zones.

Patronage for EMU services has steadily increased, but the number of trains during peak hours are no match for the demand, resulting in overcrowded coaches.

Beach - Tambaram (every 3 minutes): 157 

Beach - Chengalpattu: 73

Beach/MMC – Gummidipoondi: 45

Beach/MMC - Sulurpet: 23

Beach/ MMC - Avadi/Pattabiram/ Tiruvallur/ Tiruttani: 135

MRTS services on Beach- Velachery route: 133 pairs

Beach - Tambaram section has 12-car rakes.

In other routes, only 9 car EMUs are being operated.

A standard EMU has 10 general coaches (each with around 110 seats) and two motor coaches (60 seats each).

As per ballpark estimates, each EMU can carry 1,220 people (sitting) and nearly 1,000 standing.

One every 7 to 8 minutes during peak hours.

One every 10 to 20 minutes during non-peak hours is 10 to 20 minutes. 

On an average, two people die on tracks in Chennai  division daily. 

Roughly, 750 deaths are reported every year. 

Railway Protection Force (RPF) claims that the number has gone down by 17 per cent from last year. 

RPF claims that it books 60,000 cases per year (200 cases per day). 

Travelers are fined between Rs 100 and Rs 500 under section 156 of Railways Act for footboard travel etc.

1,080 cases have been booked for various violations since January 2017.

I got on the train at Oorapakkam station at 8.25 am. The train was 10 minutes late from its scheduled arrival time. There was no big crowd in the train at Oorapakkam and I got a seat inside. As the train reached Tambaram, there was a huge rush and people started crowding near the doorway. Generally, the crowd in this train is more as it is a fast passenger between Chengalpattu and Chennai Beach. 

When the train left Pazhavanthangal station and had moved about 700 metres from the station when we heard loud cries. We rushed to see what was happening. One person’s bag was caught on a signal post, which got wrenched. He clung on to the backpack of another person and that person clung to another commuter’s bag. Passengers were falling out one after another and even two people who were inside the compartment, not near the footboard, were pulled out. 

We then pulled the chain to stop the train but the train came to a halt only after running about 1.5 km— after passing another station. We got down and rushed towards the spot where the passengers had fallen. We  called the 108 ambulance service. It took 45 minutes for the first ambulance to reach the spot. The death of the third passenger, who was admitted at Government General Hospital could have been avoided, if the ambulance had reached the spot immediately after the call. 

Other ambulances also reached the spot late. First, some RPF officials came to the spot. Death of two commuters was confirmed on the spot. I have been travelling in this  very same train for the last four years and have seen many accidents, mostly in this particular spot. This train is always crowded because another fast passenger between Tirumalpur and Chennai Beach does not stop at any station between Chengalpattu and Tambaram, except for Pazhavanthangal. So this fast passenger is always crowded, forcing people to travel on footboard.