Mumbai stampede: Safety audits to begin at suburban railway stations

Railway authorities on Tuesday will begin safety audits of 136 stations on Mumbai’s suburban network, days after 23 people died in a stampede on the foot overbridge at the Elphinstone Road railway station, the Hindustan Times reported. The decision was made during a September 29 meeting called by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. Goyal had directed both Central and Western Railways to conduct safety audit within 10 days.

At least 13 teams from the zonal railways, civic bodies and the Mumbai police have been formed to inspect main, harbour and trans-harbour routes during peak hours in the morning and evening to determine the problems faced by everyday commuters. While the Central Railway has formed eight multidisciplinary teams to inspect 76 suburban railway stations, the Western Railway has formed five teams to inspect the other stations, the Hindustan Times reported.

“They will check foot over-bridges, presence of hawkers, platform width, staircases and their width during their inspection and submit their report within a week,” Ravinder Goyal, divisional railway manager, Central Railway Mumbai division, told the English newspaper.

The teams will document the problem areas on camera and prepare a comprehensive report that will help heads of various departments concerned to figure out the solutions, DNA reported.

Protestors from the Nationalist Congress Party held rail roko agitation at the central suburban rail network against the stampede at Elphinstone Road railway station on September 29. At Kalwa station, a train was stopped for two minutes during peak hours. However, train services were not disrupted as the Railway Protection Force had deployed additional staff at Kalwa station, reported Hindustan Times.

Meanwhile, on the western line, rail services were disrupted when a Goregaon train unexpectedly halted at Jogeshwari station. Angry commuters threatened to protest on the tracks if the train did not start moving immediately, the English newspaper reported. The trains were running 10 minutes late on the western line.