Kurla — which falls on the Central Railway (CR) and sees traffic from the mainline as well as the Harbour line — has seen 142 deaths this year while Borivali on the Western Railway (WR) has seen 47 deaths, bringing the debate over closed-door locals back into the spotlight. City railway officials, however, do not think such trains are feasible.
According to the Government Railway Police, up to October this year Kurla and Borivali have seen the most deaths due to commuters falling off trains than any other station in the Mumbai suburban network. Officials have said that the closed-door experiment, which was implemented on a women’s first-class coach on March 16, had failed miserably and is not an option on the CR in particular, due to commuter density.
“The WR trial lasted hardly 15 days until we had to recall the rake and remove the closed doors; but this can’t even be thought of on the CR, since it is humanly impossible,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.
The statement comes at a time when Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu has asked the railway officials to look into the feasibility of closed-door rakes. “If the minister tells us to do it, we will have to comply. But the fact is that it will fail again,” added the official.
The doors cost Rs 4.5 lakh each (two were fitted) and they faced technical glitches. The door, for example, would not open as soon as the train stopped at the platform or it would open on the wrong side of the platform, causing panic among women commuters.
Other stations that see a high number of deaths due to commuters falling of the train are Kalyan with 131 deaths, Thane with 130 and Vadala — which has become one of the busiest stations on the Harbour line due to Andheri and Bandra trains — with 104 deaths on the CR.
On the Western Railway, the death toll is comparatively lower with Andheri registering 31 deaths followed by Mumbai Central and Vasai with 20 deaths each.
