Railway employees lost their lives due to trains coming from both sides in the dark of night

Mumbai: The inquiry report of the Junior Administrative Grade (JAG) level committee constituted after the death of three Mumbai division railway employees after they were hit by a local train between Vasai Road and Naigaon stations on January 22, concluded that the culprit behind the fatal accident was There were many factors. , Since it was night time at the time of the accident, there was chaos due to the movement of trains from both sides.

According to the investigation report, the train suddenly came from above during the night. The staff did not get enough time to move to the other line as they were confused as there were trains coming from all three lines at that time, putting them in a position where an accident could have occurred if they had gone either way. All these reasons have been held responsible for this accident. No person or system has been held responsible.

The report makes nine recommendations to improve precautions taken while working on tracks to avoid such tragedies. According to which it has been advised to build a safe road with emergency shelter near the track. When workers come to the yard to carry out signal repair or maintenance work, a person should be appointed to keep a watch on their activities. Any technology should be deployed for recruitment notification of staff and early warning of incoming train to field staff to meet the shortage of manpower.

In case the motorman dims the lights for an oncoming train, another light should be provided so that the staff on duty can see it. Also, retroreflective jackets of such staff are also visible. The Railways has said that the committee's recommendations will be strictly followed (the report also claims that motorman Rajaram Jinnah, the first eyewitness to the incident, said that he had no time to alert as the train was running at a speed of 90 km per hour). Track staff were found, but they immediately sounded the horn as soon as they saw the employees, and despite emergency brakes being applied, the employees were crushed under the train before the train could stop, although the Committee said it could not verify the witness's claim. Could do. A case of honking, because there was no digital record of it