The Bombay High Court (HC) was recently informed that more than 52,348 people have died on Western Railway (WR) and Central Railway (CR) in the last 20 years.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya was hearing a plea filed by Yatin Jadhav regarding the high fatality rate among local train commuters in Mumbai. The petitioner had pointed out several problems that lead to deaths on the suburban train network. He is a resident of Virar and commutes on the line operated by Western Railway daily.
The WR and CR had filed affidavits in June as per the High Court's directions while hearing a PIL filed by Yatin Jadhav, who raised the death toll of commuters using the Mumbai Suburban Railway, the world's second-busiest system after Tokyo.
The High Court had noted that the "extremely serious" problem of death by falling from trains needed to be addressed. He also criticized the railways saying "you transport people like cattle". Also, the authorities were asked to introduce a "robust" modern system to prevent accidents in local trains.
The Mumbai Suburban system of the Central and Western Railways is used by over a third of the total passengers on the All Indian Railways. While 23,027 people lost their lives on the Western Railway, 29,321 deaths occurred on the Central Railway from 2009 to June 2024. The Railways also said that they are continuously making efforts to expand the network.
According to Western Railway, due to all infrastructure upgrades and network expansion and other measures (such as more FOBs, ROBs, widening of platforms, increased rakes, action against track crossings etc.) incidents of fatalities and injuries have reduced significantly in the last 20 years.
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