Mumbai: Not all 16 died in a day, railways clarify

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As many as 16 people were reported dead across the suburban railway network in a single day, on July 18. The railways have uncovered the reasons behind all 16 reported cases with some being suicides, natural deaths, trespassing on tracks and a few old cases registered on Thursday.

The number, however, led to panic among commuters and commuter associations blaming the railways. Subsequent investigations by both Central and Western Railways have revealed that the compilation seemed to be erratic and not all of them had died due to overcrowding or glitches on the part of railways. The data had been compiled by the police, including incidents of earlier dates, but registered on July 18 due to procedural delays, making it look as if 16 deaths occurred on one day.

Of the 16 deaths, 12 pertained to the Central Railway of which eight had occurred on July 18 and the rest being earlier cases. An official note said that two cases were of suicide, two of natural death, four of runovers, including one of a biker who tried to make his way through a closed level crossing at Titwala, and four of commuters falling down during non-peak hours.

Four die on WR

The remaining four cases were of Western Railway runovers, including one suicide between Nallasopara and Vasai. Of these, only one occurred on July 18 and the rest had taken place earlier. Both the railways said that several measures have been taken to stop trespassing, including the construction of fence walls, shutting down of level crossings, construction of new bridges and punitive action by RPF for crossing tracks. The number of incidences due to hitting by poles and falling in platform gaps has also reduced significantly, officials added.

CR deaths

• 8 No. of deaths occurred on CR on July 18
• 2 No. of suicides
• 2 No. of natural deaths
• 4 No. of runovers
• 4 No. of commuters who fell off running trains

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