In an attempt to curb the menace of trespassing on railway tracks, the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has selected 12 stations that would be upgraded with additional foot overbridges (FOB), fences between platforms so that commuters are forced to use FOBs and boundary walls. The stations are Dadar, Kandivali, Borivali, Bhayander, Vasai Road and Nalasopara on Western Railway and Dadar, Kurla, Kanjurmarg, Thane, Thakurli and Kalyan on Central Railway. These stations have becomes deathtraps for trespassers and efforts to curb the evil have had very positive results.
“The department of economic affairs has sent a letter of recommendation to the World Bank seeking a loan of `120 crore for the project. Recently, the country director of the World Bank gave his in-principle approval. We have now started the preparatory work to upgrade the existing facilities at stations,” said a senior official from MRVC.
The official further added, “We have sent documents for approval to the officials of the World Bank and the government of Maharashtra and we are hopeful that infrastructure work will start by December this year. We will give finishing touches to the project in another year.”
Acting upon various objections and suggestions, the Railways asked MRVC to prevent trespassing and students of JJ College of Arts were assigned to conduct a comprehensive study on this issue. In a detailed report, the MRVC found that these 12 stations were most affected by trespassing.
Rail activist, Sameer Jhaveri, who filed a PIL in Bombay high court in 2008 on the trespassing issue said, “Better late than never, this effort with definitely reduce the number of deaths under wheels. No matter what the data says, the ground reality is that still daily at least 10-15 people are either dying or being handicapped due to rail accidents.”