Alert motorman hit the brakes after he saw the boy fall off an adjacent train due to the rush hour crowds at Tilak Nagar station; victim broke his leg but survived the accident

Teen falls off coach, motorman halts train to save him

NEHA LM TRIPATHI and IRAM SIDDIQUE

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Alert motorman hit the brakes after he saw the boy fall off an adjacent train due to the rush hour crowds at Tilak Nagar station; victim broke his leg but survived the accident

ON an average, 10 passengers are killed on city’s suburban railway network every day.

Nineteen- year- old Abu Fahad Shaikh was lucky not to contribute to the statistic last morning after being squeezed out of a crowded coach in a moving train and falling down on the tracks.

On Monday, Shaikh boarded a local at Govandi around 9.27 am. When the train reached Tilak Nagar station, he was pulled out by the rush hour horde trying to get in. Luckily for Shaikh, the motorman of the train on the adjacent tracks had seen him fall and hit the brakes — he could afford to do so as the train was approaching the station.

“ I fell when the train was nearing Tilak Nagar station and the motorman of the other train braked to stop. I am thankful to him. Had he not seen me falling, I wouldn’t be alive,” said Shaikh, adding, “ I was concerned about my family’s well- being in case anything happened to me.” He was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital by his friends but couldn’t get admitted before 2.30 pm due to unavailability of doctors. He sustained a fracture to his left leg and multiple injuries.

Harbour line commuters have long been complaining of overcrowding. “ The Harbour line trains are always packed beyond capacity, posing a risk to commuters’ lives. My son takes the train daily and goes through the same situation,” said Shaikh’s father Mohammad Aliyas.

Atul Rane, chief PRO, CR, said, “ We have always been declaring that travelling on the footboard should be avoided as it’s very unsafe. If people disobey us and take a chance, they are bound to suffer. We are working towards increasing services on Harbour line.”

Hitch derails services

A while later, a technical glitch in a train led to hour-long delays and cancellations in Harbour line services. Commuters were stranded at various stations after a CST- bound train was glitch delays Harbour were stations was stuck between Reay Road and Dockyard Road due to a unit failure.

The error occurred at 10.50 am and services resumed by 11.15 am. In between this time, the unrest among commuters was palpable. “My office is in Andheri and the trains are running so late it’s impossible to reach on time. I have been waiting for half an hour but there is no sign of a train. There is such a huge crowd due to this delay that I am not even sure if I will be able to get aboard,” said Sangeet Kumar Meena, a resident of Wadala.

Man tries to board moving train at Thane, loses leg Witnesses said he was trying to board the train holding a laptop, a cell phone, and lugging a suitcase

Aditya.Anand @timesgroup.com TWEETS @anandaditya 

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    A 25-year-old man lost a leg after falling into the gap between the train and platform while trying to board a moving train at Thane station on Saturday. 
    His wheelchair-driven father and his mother, who witnessed the horrific accident, are yet to be told that their son’s leg had to be amputated because of the severity of the injuries. 
    Anupam Suraj Kumar, 25, a resident of Darbanga, Bihar, had been frequently visiting Mumbai for the past few months as his father, a cancer patient, was undergoing treatment at KEM hospital, Parel. On Saturday afternoon, the family was to board the second-class AC compartment of the Darbanga-bound Pawan Express. 
    By the time they reached platform no.7 of Thane station, the train had already started moving. Kumar immediately parked his father’s wheelchair on the platform and tried to open the compartment door while running parallel to the train, so that he could stop the train and then get his parents on board. When that didn’t work, he tried to get into an adjoining compartment, when he slipped through the gap. 
    Stunned passers-by watched in horror as Kumar screamed for help, while passengers on board scrambled to pull the chain to stop the train. 
    However, despite attempts to pull him out, Kumar remained stuck in the gap for twenty minutes. 
    “He was stuck in such a manner that any movement of the train could have cost him his life. We decided on moving the train back, so that he could be pulled out,” said a railway official. Kumar was rushed to Jupiter Hospital. “His left leg had to be amputated due to the injuries,” said GRP Thane inspector Jat Chand said, adding that Kumar was trying to board the train carrying not only holding a laptop and cell phone, but also lugging a huge suitcase. 
    Kumarparents, UmaandVijay,are still in shock. 
    “They don’t know about the leg. Theyarerestinginthehospital,”saida GRP official who accompanied Kumar to the hospital. 
GAP WIDER THAN STANDARD MEASUREMENT Shreeshankar, who witnessed the accident, said there was a huge gap between the platform and train at Thane station.Accordingtoarailwayofficial, the gap at Thane station is around 15 to 17 inches wide, when the standard width of the gap is supposed to be 8 inches. 
    “While Kumar should have definitely not tried to board a moving train, the issue of the huge gap must addressed urgently by the railways,” said Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sanghatana’s Madhu Kotian. 
    The wide gap between platforms and train footboards, however, would takesometimetobeaddressedasthere is a shortage of funds. “This is a problem in several stations, including major ones like Dadar,” the official said.

The accident spot (left); Anupam’s father (extreme right), who is a cancer patient, is yet to be informed that his son (centre) has lost his left leg