World Bank Document - Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation Ltd ...

EMU trains are capable of 100 km/h under light traffic conditions, the actual average speed of
the trains is a mere 35 km/h on most lines, the cumulative effect of several factors. 15
78. Due to the overcrowding, doors of coaches cannot be closed and passengers dangle
outside from the open doors. Nearby squatter settlements and encroachers within the railway
right-of-way safety zone are other causes of frequent casualties on the Mumbai system. Stations
are always overcrowded. People rarely use proper crossing places and prefer trespassing and
crossing the rail lines. Trespassing, which occurs not only in the station areas but also in between
them, forces trains to slow down and so increases travel times, limits capacity and hampers track
maintenance work. Deaths of squatters and trespassers after being struck by a train and
passengers falling off trains are a daily occurrence. There are about ten to twelve 16 deaths per
day on the Mumbai rail system (which is high but still less than the rate of five to seven 17 deaths
per day on the roads and streets in the MMR 18 , considering the far greater volumes carried by
rail). Table 1 below shows the gravity of this issue: the numbers of deaths and injuries have
grown at yearly rates of 3.3 and 5.6 percent respectively from 2001 to 2008, with an annual
average growth of 4.4 percent for the total number of casualties. Among the causes of death and
injury, the continued increase in the number of passengers falling off the train is particularly
noteworthy (this increase is in part due to the increase in the number of trains and the opening of
new lines). Reducing the number of fatalities related to its suburban rail services is one of the
priorities of Western Railway, Central Railway and MRVC, which in November 2009 decided to
prepare an action plan on how to effectively reduce the casualties among trespassers.
Table 1. Railway Accidents in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, year by year
2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2008
Accidental Deaths
While crossing the railway line 1,971 2,517 2,479 2,561 2,603 2,448
Falling off the train 603 453 494 606 647 615
Others* 142 85 705 862 747 719
Total Accidental Deaths 2,885 3,055 3,678 4,029 3,997 3,782
Injured Persons
While crossing the railway line 1,147 856 810 1,040 1,048 916
Falling off the train 1,454 1,420 1,639 1,898 2,033 1,854
Others 144 657 1,064 1,195 1,226 1,260
Total Injured Persons 2,745 2,933 3,513 4,133 4,307 4,030
Total Casualties 5,760 6,227 7,191 8,162 8,304 7,812
Source: Mumbai Railway Police Commissionerate, 2007
* Other causes of accidents include: falling off the platform, derailments, bridge collapses
15 LEA Associates, Comprehensive Transportation Study.
16 This amounts to 6.9 deaths per 100 million passenger-km (total suburban rail passenger traffic based on
LEA Associates’ estimate is 173 million passenger-km/day in 2006).
17 This amounts to 11.2 deaths per 100 million passenger-km (total road traffic including non-mechanized trips
based on LEA Associates’ estimate is 62.5 million passenger-km/day in 2006).
18 Basic Transport and Communication Statistics for MMR, March 2005, by MMRDA and Indian Railways
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