Safety moves up in railways’ list

New Delhi: Two days after the collapse of a foot over-bridge in Mumbai led to the loss of 23 lives, the railways hurried to put forward a string of measures to ensure safety in the Mumbai local trains, including formation of multi-disciplinary audit teams to inspect all suburban stations, completion of work on all FOBs on a warfooting and upgrading or installing CCTV cameras at all city stations.

The decisions were taken by railway minister Piyush Goyal at back-to back marathon meetings spanning over 20 hours held in Mumbai.

The major decision include formation of multi-disciplinary audit teams which will inspect all suburban stations within one week and identify areas of concern, work on all FOBs in progress to be completed on a warfooting, additional FOBs to be immediately planned at other stations where passenger traffic is also high.

Mr Goyal also cleared a proposal for plans to be drawn up for all Mumbai suburban stations to upgrade electronic surveillance (CCTV) system in a time-bound manner.

Apart from this, all issues pending with agencies like BMC, MMRDA, CIDCO and the state government would be resolved within a week’s time.

The minister also cleared a proposal to enhance safety and efficiency in 40 yards across India with an investment cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

This will include 8 yards in the Mumbai region. Around 200 officers are to be relocated from headquarters as field staff to strengthen ground operations and project implementation. For the next 18 months, the railways has delegated its general managers with powers without limit for safety-related issues.

A rush hour stampede during a sudden monsoon downpour killed 23 people and wounded more than 30 on Friday at Mumbai’s Elphinstone Road station. The tragedy took place amid rain in the city around 10.40 am when the foot over-bridge was heavily crowded.