Between 3.30 pm and 4 pm on workings days, a special train for railway employees stops at Parel station, which hundreds of workshop staffers cross the tracks to board
Railway employees break all rules with impunity; can be seen walking on tracks and boarding trains from wrong sides.
Even as the Mumbai Railways revives its "most ambitious" Rs 150-crore trespass control project to reduce the number of track deaths on suburban railways, it is unable to rein in its own employees. Every day, hundreds of employees walk on the tracks with impunity, climb trains from the wrong side and break every law in the book.
This Mumbai Mirror reporter visited the Parel station between 3.30 pm and 4 pm on a working day to find hundreds of railway workshop employees walking on the tracks to catch the "employee special train" that arrives on platform number three. Since platform number four at Parel is still equipped to handle only nine-car trains, the 12-car special train halts here twice, making employees jump on the train from all sides, risking their lives and limbs.
"All gates and fences that are usually locked are opened up at this time to facilitate commuters, leading to complete chaos at the station, even as CSTbound fast trains speed past honking continuously," said an activist.
"In fact, there are too many of them to be controlled. There is a small passageway at the north end of the workshop from where they come onto the tracks. A small locked-up gate near the booking office in the east side is also opened up, leading to scores jumping onto the path of running lines to reach platform three," he added.
Police constables and home guards on duty said they were helpless, as advising employees was beyond their duty and control.
Meanwhile, Central Railway's chief spokesperson Atul Rane assured Mumbai Mirror that railway employees will be sensitised about the issue.
Last year, as many as 3,506 people had died in railways-related mishaps. The department then launched a trespass control plan as part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project 2-A. The plan was funded by the World Bank, Indian Railways and the Maharashtra government and co-ordinated by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation.
It aimed at creating facilities such as foot-over bridges, escalators and green patches near stations.
Initially, the project was formally launched by Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge during his Mumbai visit in October 2013. Soon after the launch, the project got scrapped as the World Bank raised some objections over the tender process. Last week, the
Even as the Mumbai Railways revives its "most ambitious" Rs 150-crore trespass control project to reduce the number of track deaths on suburban railways, it is unable to rein in its own employees. Every day, hundreds of employees walk on the tracks with impunity, climb trains from the wrong side and break every law in the book.
This Mumbai Mirror reporter visited the Parel station between 3.30 pm and 4 pm on a working day to find hundreds of railway workshop employees walking on the tracks to catch the "employee special train" that arrives on platform number three. Since platform number four at Parel is still equipped to handle only nine-car trains, the 12-car special train halts here twice, making employees jump on the train from all sides, risking their lives and limbs.
"All gates and fences that are usually locked are opened up at this time to facilitate commuters, leading to complete chaos at the station, even as CSTbound fast trains speed past honking continuously," said an activist.
"In fact, there are too many of them to be controlled. There is a small passageway at the north end of the workshop from where they come onto the tracks. A small locked-up gate near the booking office in the east side is also opened up, leading to scores jumping onto the path of running lines to reach platform three," he added.
Police constables and home guards on duty said they were helpless, as advising employees was beyond their duty and control.
Meanwhile, Central Railway's chief spokesperson Atul Rane assured Mumbai Mirror that railway employees will be sensitised about the issue.
Last year, as many as 3,506 people had died in railways-related mishaps. The department then launched a trespass control plan as part of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project 2-A. The plan was funded by the World Bank, Indian Railways and the Maharashtra government and co-ordinated by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation.
It aimed at creating facilities such as foot-over bridges, escalators and green patches near stations.
Initially, the project was formally launched by Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge during his Mumbai visit in October 2013. Soon after the launch, the project got scrapped as the World Bank raised some objections over the tender process. Last week, the
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