Mumbai: After a commuter sitting on the top of a train was electrocuted in Govandi on Tuesday, the Railway Police Force (RPF) has decided to again carry out a drive to stop people from travelling on rooftops of trains or performing similar stunts.
Around 250 cases of rooftop travelling and 650 cases of stunts have been reported on the Central Railway (CR) so far.
The RPF has also found that most of the rooftop travellers are found on the Harbour line, while the most dangerous stunts are witnessed in Thane-Kalwa-Mumbra section. As a result, the number of railway personnel will be increased on this section.
The RPF will also take pictures and video of those who are performing stunts on the top of the trains and circulate it on WhatsApp group so that railway personnel can identify and nab the culprits. CR senior divisional security commissioner Sachin Bhalode said, “We are going to use technology and deploy tried and tested methods like patrolling of stations such as Govandi, Mankhurd, Tilak Nagar and Chembur, where the problem of rooftop travelling is rampant.”
He also added, “We have witnessed an increase in cases of stunts being performed on the top of the train beyond areas like Thane, Kalwa, Mumbra and Dombivali. So we will target these areas and again take videos or pictures of those performing stunts and send them on the Whatsapp groups, making it easy for our personnel to identify the culprits.”
The RPF has been trying to tackle the trend of stunts being performed on top of the roof train. The Railways police has found that the youngsters perform stunts on top of trains and circulate them on social media.
A group of youths, who would bet on performing stunts on top of the trains, were busted by the RPF last year. The value of a bet would rise with the level of risk. For example Rs 3,000 for hitting each of the signal poles on a certain stretch and the highest bet of Rs 10,000 for touching the live 25,000 volt overhead wire.
Stunts on trains
- Touching signal poles that are situated parallel to running trains, especially on fast trains, when the speed of the cars on certain sections is the highest.
- Touching the overhead wire. Many stuntmen have identified neutral sections such as the one between Mumbra and Kalwa, when there is no electricity due to the change in electricity substations.
- Dragging one’s feet on the entire stretch of the platform.
- Keeping only one leg on the footboard while holding on to the grab-pole with one hand.
