Unconscious woman found beside rly track in Bhandup. Police have been unable to identify her; officials say she may have fallen off a moving local train, admitted her to Rajawadi Hospital

Nov 26 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)

Unconscious woman found beside rly track in Bhandup

Kamal Mishra TWEETS @KMMIRROR





Police have been unable to identify her; officials say she may have fallen off a moving local train, admitted her to Rajawadi Hospital

Merely 36 hours after a medical student was pushed out of a moving local by a mobile phone snatcher, another woman was found unconscious near the railway tracks between Nahur and Bhandup after having fallen from a moving train. The incident occurred early in the morning on Wednesday.According to Government Railway Police (GRP) officials, at around 7 am on Wednesday, a commuter approached the station master at Kurla and told him that a lady, about 40 years of age, was lying unconscious near the tracks close to the pole marking a distance of 27.3 km from CST. The station master found her with the help of the Kurla GRP and had her admitted to Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar.
The victim, who is as yet unidentified, is still unable to move or speak. Vidya Thakur, medical superintendent of Rajwadi hospital, said she was grievously injured and has suf fered from multiple fractures in the head.
When asked about the incident, a senior GRP officer said, “Although she has some marks of injury on her hand, she suffered a severe injury only to the head. Prima facie it appears to be a case of falling down from a moving train. She has also not been identified.“
“We have informed all police stations in the central suburb about the incident and put out an alert for any reports about missing persons,“ he added.
The officials say the victim was found wearing a yellow metal chain, two bangles, two rings and four white metal rings. She was dressed in a pink Punjabi kurta and white churidar pyjama.
“We searched around the spot but didn't find any documents that would reveal her identity,“ said an official from GRP, Kurla.
This is the latest in a slew of such incidents that have dogged the central line. Last year, 797 deaths were attributed to falling from suburban trains.This year, the figure has already crossed the 700 mark, said a GRP official.
“Railway administration has completely failed to provide safe and comfortable transport to the passengers,“ said Advocate Swati Jain, who regularly uses the service to travel from CST to her residence in Dombivli.
“I think the basic reason why people are dying like animals is that railway officers have entirely failed to comprehend the hardships of the commuters,“ said Sudhir Katdare, another regular commuter from Thane. “Most of the passengers fall or slip from the trains when they struggle to get into a coach and fail to enter it, or when they get dashed against one of the poles next to the railway tracks,“ he added.
Upon being contacted by Mirror, Narendra Patil, chief public relations officer of Central Railway, said that the GRP and RPF are examining the case.
A railway official who did not wish to be named said, “It is true that the number of cases of passengers falling from trains has gone up, but this number also includes those cases where people lost their lives while performing stunts.“

City's track record logs improvement, deaths down 15%. Deaths on tracks fall from 4,029 in 2006 to 3,423 in 2014 Foot over bridges, track dividers, fencing, raised platforms were critical in curbing fatalities on suburban train network, say railway officials

Sep 05 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)

City's track record logs improvement, deaths down 15%

Sanjeev Shivadekar mirrorfeedback TWEETS @MumbaiMirror





Deaths on tracks fall from 4,029 in 2006 to 3,423 in 2014Foot over bridges, track dividers, fencing, raised platforms were critical in curbing fatalities on suburban train network, say railway officials

The number of fatalities recorded on Mumbai's sub urban rail network dipped 15 per cent from 2006 to 2014, a number that assumes significance when juxtaposed with the increase in train services and commuter traffic in the corresponding period. The number of routes increased from nearly 2,326 in 2006 to close to 2,600 in 2014, while the passenger population went up by 15 per cent, from 61 lakh to 72 lakh.According to figures compiled by Government Railway Police (GRP), 4,029 fatalities were recorded in 2006 and 3,423 in 2014; the average number of deaths per day decreased from 11 in 2006 to nine in 2014 (see box). The railways has implemented several measures to curtail deaths on the tracks (see box). “We've increased rail services [to ease crowding], constructed foot over bridges, closed level crossings and increased safety awareness among commuters,“ said Sharat Chandrayan, chief public relation officer (Western Railway).“There's been an application of scientific method in preventing accidents.“
Vinit Kumar, secretary and chief public relation officer (central railway) said, “To bring down fatalities the administration has launched special drives to discourage trespassing.Apart from deterrent drives the administration also plans to conduct public awareness programmes to ensure that commuters follow safety norms.“ A senior GRP officer, who asked that his name be withheld, said a majority of deaths occurred due to trespassing while a bulk of the remaining fatalities were caused by commuters who fell off moving trains ­ he was unable to provide Mumbai Mirror the component quantities to substantiate that claim.
Other than trespassing, the “gap trap“ ­ the space between the coach and platform ­ has posed significant difficulties in curbing fatalities, officials said. According to GRP statistics, the gap claimed 79 per cent more lives in Mumbai in 2014 than in 2013; 34 people in 2014 as against 19 the previous year.
To address this, the height of most platforms have been raised from 840 mm to 920 mm in 45 of the 76 stations in Mumbai, a Central Railway official said. “The efforts taken by the railway administration and police in past few years have started yielding positive results,“ said GRP commissioner Madhukar Pandey. “But efforts are on to bring down these numbers even further.“
Railway activist Samir Zaveri acknowledged that the measures have been largely effective. “They have resulted in the reduction of fatalities,“ he said. “But the administration's aim should be zero deaths on tracks.“

India's biggest transport crisis. Rajendra B Aklekar TWEETS @_MumbaiMirror   Over 3,000 trains cancelled; 50,000 ticket refunds every day; Rs 1,200 revenue lost; and it's not over yet Itarsi fire cripples country's train network Officials say over 3,000 trains cancelled; massive repair operation launched; loss estimated at Rs 1,200 cr

Jul 11 2015 : Mirror (Mumbai)

India's biggest transport crisis

Rajendra B Aklekar TWEETS @_MumbaiMirror





Over 3,000 trains cancelled; 50,000 ticket refunds every day; Rs 1,200 revenue lost; and it's not over yetItarsi fire cripples country's train network
Officials say over 3,000 trains cancelled; massive repair operation launched; loss estimated at Rs 1,200 cr

A fire in the control centre of the pivotal Itarsi Railway Junction in UP has caused one of the largest and lengthiest ­ train disruptions in over a decade, with more than 70 trains being cancelled each day for the last 22 days; over 3,000 in all, resulting in 50,000 ticket refunds a day. And given the extent of damage to the Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) panel ­ the nerve centre of a station that routes all major rail traffic between the four cardinal directions ­ railway officials estimate that services will be restored only by July 23.Monetary loss caused by the dysfunctional system is in the region of Rs 1,200 crore, sources in the railways said.At least 900 trains originating from and headed for Mumbai have been cancelled since the fire broke out.
A fire that broke out at 5.45 am on June 17 destroyed the central cabin of the route relay interlocking system at Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh, resulting in a cascading effect on the country's entire rail network, slowing down train movement, and forcing operators to resort to manual signalling methods, including flags and “authority to proceed“ chits handed to drivers approaching switching points.
“The electronic dashboard controls train movement over significant sections. The entire panel, connected with the signal points and track turnouts, has been gutted. It is a huge system with thousands of cables and circuits and railway engineers have to completely set up a new system. It is taking time because of the complexity of the job,“ a senior railways official said. “It's critical to understand that it is very dangerous to allow the same volume of train movement without the RRI system in place.“ Itarsi Junction normally handles 300 trains a day. The burned down panel has whittled that number down to a third of that number.
According to railway employees, the RRI cabin was ill-maintained and did not house a smoke detector. “This disaster could have been averted,“ an official told Mumbai Mirror. No offi cial explanation was forthcoming.
The task at hand is daunting. In all, close to 120 km of cables must be replaced; over 300 km of jumper cables installed; 3 lakh segments to be soldered and joined with precision; and each one of the 900 relays in the control room must be set right. “We have deployed more than 950 engineers and over 50 officers to work on the site day and night,“ Piyush Mathur, chief spokesperson, West Central Railway, said.
Former railway board member (mechanical) Subodh Jain said that a crisis of this scale hasn't occurred in over a decade. “There was an arch bridge collapse on Western Railway between Surat and Mumbai in 2003; trains had been diverted and cancelled for nearly 20 days, but not on this scale. This is a rare crisis,“ he said.
In Mumbai, travellers with reserved tickets have had to spend nights at CST, waiting for services to resume or find alternative routes home. Some made tortuous journeys back to the city.
“I was to travel back [to Mumbai] from Char-dham Yatra with my friends. We had a booking on the Varanasi-Mumbai Express. But as we reached the station, we were told that the train had been cancelled. We were helpless and tried booking a ticket in another train but they were all full.We had to board a general coach which was jam packed. We stood on the train for the entire overnight journey from Varanasi to Itarsi,“ said Malan Palekar, 58.
Railways officials said the figure of 50,000 ticket cancellations and refunds from online tickets across the country is just the tip of an iceberg, because more refunds have been given through booking counters.
Asked how many passengers have been affected, railways officials said they do not have a mechanism to keep track, but the figure could run into lakhs.
In fact, just one zone, the south east central railway, has released its figures of losses that have reached Rs 2.5 crore till June 29. While 5,260 tickets were cancelled in Raipur zone with railways bearing a loss of Rs 35,23,135, Nagpur zone saw 25,790 ticket cancellations with a refund of Rs 1,07,18,675. Bilaspur zone had to refund Rs 1,15,13,245 for cancellation of 23,475 tickets. These are just reserved ticket passengers. “Other zones are yet to calculate the exact losses, but the estimate is of Rs 1,200 crore already,“ an official added.
BK Mishra from Amethi, who runs a taxi for a living in Mumbai, could not make it in time for his father's surgery. “I had to go as my father was unwell. He is well now, but I should have been there. I had booked tickets a month in advance,“ he said.
Vivek Mishra, a teacher by profession working in Mumbai, is stuck in Sultanpur. “My train got cancelled thrice, Saket Express and Udyog Nagri. I need to return to Mumbai, but I have been stuck here. Now I am figuring out how to come back,“ he said.
THE CONTROL PANEL THAT CRASHED
Route Relay Interlocking (RRI) is the dashboard used in large and busy stations that are required to handle high volumes of train movements.
The RRI controls the entire route traced by a train as it passes through a station. All associated points and signals along the track can be set at once by a switch for receiving, holding, blocking, or dispatching trains.
The system mirrors the actual geographical layout of signal switches and push buttons. All that an operator is required to do to effect a switch in the route is determine where a train is and to which line it must be shifted. The RRI takes care of the rest.
When a route is set and locked, the route is illuminated by white strip lights in the track circuit configurations throughout the route (except the overlap).
Itarsi's RRI central cabin controls hundreds of points and signals. It pilots traffic moving in the direction of Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Patna, Mumbai, Nagpur, Allahabad and Jabalpur.
When Itarsi's system burned down on June 17, it was akin to an Air Traffic Control tower losing its flight sequencing system; train operators had to resort to antiquated manual signalling techniques.

TTE who beat up commuter at Kurla finally behind bars. Singh surrendered earlier this week after rote to the di the Kurla GRP wrote to the divisional railway manager (Central Railway), apprising him of the incident. Singh was produced before a railway court and released on bail. The CR has suspended him following the incident.

May 10 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

TTE who beat up commuter at Kurla finally behind bars

Mumbai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





A travelling ticket examiner (TTE), Anand Singh, has Singh, has been arrested for assaulting a ticketless traveller.Singh surrendered earlier this week after rote to the di the Kurla GRP wrote to the divisional railway manager (Central Railway), apprising him of the incident. Singh was produced before a railway court and released on bail. The CR has suspended him following the incident.
The incident took place on April 22 when hotel employee Navroz Charania (36) was travelling from Kanjurmarg to Kurla. Singh asked him for ticket at Kurla station around 9.30am. When Charania said he did not have a ticket, Singh took him to the office of the chief ticket inspector and verbally abused him. Charania then asked Singh to mind his language and also offered to pay fine for travelling without a ticket. But Singh allegedly lost his cool and punched Charania on his face. He also took away Charania's cellphone and kicked him.
Charania was then made to wait at the CTI's office for half an hour. Later, other TTEs came to the office, following which Singh left. Charania's cellphone was returned to him by Singh's colleagues. The injured victim then went to the nearby Kurla GRP outpost and lodged a case against Singh. Charania was sent to Bhabha Hospital for a medical examination.
“Singh has been involved in a case of extortion in the past as well,“ said Vijay Dhopavkar, senior inspector, Kur la GRP.

CCTVs planned after Kurla TTE assaults commuter. Central Railway will install glass doors and windows at the chief ticket inspector's office so that the goings-on within are clearly visible, after a ticketless commuter was assaulted by a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) at Kurla station.

Apr 25 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

CCTVs planned after Kurla TTE assaults commuter

Manthan K Mehta & Nitasha Natu

Mumbai: TNN





Central Railway will install glass doors and windows at the chief ticket inspector's office so that the goings-on within are clearly visible, after a ticketless commuter was assaulted by a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) at Kurla station.Navroz Charania (36), a hotel employee, was travelling from Kanjurmarg to Kurla when the TTE, Anand Singh, caught him on Wednesday . He took away Charania's cell phone and allegedly hit him on his face inside the chief ticket inspector's (CTI) office.The Kurla GRP has registered a case against Singh but has made no arrest yet.
CR general manager S K Sood said Singh had been suspended.
“Apart from replacing the doors and windows with transparent ones, we will get CCTVs installed. The footage can be used as evidence if commuters complain of misbehaviour by ticket-checking staff.“
“Commuters caught ticketless are taken to the CTI's office on the pretext of completing paper work. They are often made to sit for hours if they do not have the cash to pay the penalty . The goings-on inside the CTI's office are never known to anyone outside. Certain TTEs take away commuters' cell phones, which is illegal,“ said an activist.
Charania told TOI that Singh was involved in assaulting another commuter in the past few weeks but the commuter did not lodge a police complaint. “I was in a hurry and forgot to buy a ticket.Around 9.30am, I got off on platform 4 at Kurla, when the TTE told me to stop. He took me to the CTI's office and started abusing me as I did not have a ticket. I told him I was willing to pay the fine and he should mind his tongue. He lost his cool and punched me on my face. He kicked me and took away my phone,“ said Charania. Charania was made to wait at the office for half an hour. “A few other TTEs entered the office. Singh had picked up a chair to hit me but noticed his colleagues and stopped. He then left. Later, his co-worker returned my phone,“ added Charania. The other TTEs helped Charania reach the Kurla GRP outpost, where a case of assault was lodged.
Charania was taken to Bhabha Hospital at Kurla as there were bloodstains on his face. “The cops claim they are waiting to procure CCTV footage of the station. Singh is a railway employee and the cops have his address. There should not be any delay in arresting him,“ Charania said.

Attach train if rlys doesn't pay up for land: Court

Apr 14 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

Attach train if rlys doesn't pay up for land: Court

Shimla: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Two farmers from Himachal Pradesh's Una district may become proud owners of the Delhi-Una Janshatabdi Express on April 16 if a court order is executed.Una's additional district and sessions judge Mukesh Bansal on April 9 ordered the attachment of the train if the railways failed to pay compensation to the two farmers whose land was acquired to lay the Una-Amb track in 1998. The court said if Mela Ram and Madan Lal did not get Rs 8.91 lakh and Rs 26.53 lakh respectively , the train would be stopped at Una station at 5am on April 16 and attached by it. Ram and Lal had moved the court against the delay in payment even after the HP high court had directed the railways in 2013 to pay the money within six weeks. Advocate A K Saini, who represented the farmers, said the railways had acquired the land in 1998, following which the farmers filed a case seeking higher damages. In 2009, the railways too moved court, but in 2011 the district court raised the compensation amount and gave the railways three months to appeal.
But railways moved the HC only in 2013, and it ruled that the sum should be deposited in the court in six weeks. The Delhi-Una Janshatabdi Express could be attached by the district court in Una on April 16 if the railways fails to pay over Rs 35 lakh as compensation to two farmers whose land it had acquired to lay the Una-Amb track. The case has bounced from the lower court to the Himachal Pradesh high court, with the parties filing cases and counter cases. Finally, the HC di rected the railways in 2013 to pay the farmers within six weeks. “But the railways hasn't deposited the amount until now,“ the farmers' advocate A K Saini said.
As the high court had also made it clear that after the lapse of six weeks, the parties would be at liberty to execute the order, the aggrieved farmers moved the lower court. After hearing the plea on April 9, judge Mukesh Bansal ordered the attachment of the Janshatabadi train. “We'd submitted a list of four trains--two passenger, Himachal Express and Janshatabdi--and the court directed to attach the Janshatabdi,“ Saini said.

AGAINST ALL ODDS - Monika More, face of city's travel travails, appears for HSC exam Central Railway

Feb 24 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

Vinamrata Borwankar

| TNN





Girl Who Lost Both Arms After Falling In Platform Gap Fights For Her Dream, Little Has Changed On Most Stations Across WR & CR

Sitting under the shadow of trees at her exam centre in Ghatkopar, Monika More is unfazed by the chaos of parents and students as she continued last-minute revision ahead of her first HSC paper on Monday morning.Over a year after her accident in which she lost both her arms, Monika, a commerce student, appeared for the English paper with assistance from a writer. “She is slowly getting used to the myoelectric arms and can write with it too but can't write a complete paper with it in the stipulated time. We have not attended therapy for the past few months as that would take up a lot of time and there wouldn't be enough time for her to study,“ said her father Ashok, who along with her mother was accompanying Monika to the exam centre at Saraswati Vidyamandir, Ghatkopar.
On January 11 last year, Monika, then 17 years old, was trying to board a local train from Ghatkopar when she fell into a pit on the platform. She lost her arms after coming under the moving train. Soon after, Monika and her family received tremendous public support while she was being treated Parel's KEM hospital and drew a lot of attention to commuter safety at stations.
A nervous Monika said she was confident of what she had studied. “I have been concentrating on preparations for the past two months but I am nervous as I am not writing the papers on my own,“ she said.
Monika's writer is a class XI student of her own college, T D Mehta Junior College of Commerce, Ghatkopar.
Last year, the teenager appeared for her class XI examinations with help from a writer from the hospital's orthopaedic ward.
Besides studying, Monika has been busy answering calls from well wishers. “Right from Saturday, her phone has been ringing constantly. Everyone is sending in wishes for the board exams and we are grateful for that,“ said her mother, Kavita.
When TOI spoke to Monika after the paper, she had already begun preparations for the Hindi paper she will appear for on Tuesday. “The paper was easy and the 10 minutes helped a lot to plan what I wanted to answer.There were instances when I just felt like taking a pen and writing the paper on my own,“ she said.
Apart from resuming training for using her myoelectric arms, Monika is also looking forward to participating in the meetings of the Divisional Railway User's Consultative Committee. “She attended a meeting in the last week of January and the next is scheduled for April. She wants to take contribute to making travel safe,“ said Ashok.
13 killed in rail accidents on Sunday
Thirteen commuters died and 11 others injured in separate railway accidents on Sunday. Five of the deceased, including two women, and one of those injured could not be identified. Of the 24 total mishaps reported, 15 were reported on the Central line.Four mishaps, the highest in a single day, were reported at the Bandra GRP outpost.
`Role as Monika's writer is a huge responsibility'
For first-year junior college student Aishwarya Pawar, being Monika More's writer for the HSC exams meant a lot of responsibility. Seated next to Monika outside the exam centre in Ghatkopar, Aishwarya too browsed through notes for a last-minute revision.
“It is like a rehearsal for me before I write the board exam next year. Like her, I am also nervous about the first paper,“ she said. Aishwarya too is a student of Monika's college. “My teacher, who also teaches Monika, suggested I be her writer for the board exam and I was happy to help. My parents also supported the idea and allowed me to go ahead with it,“ she added.
It is the first time as a writer for the class XI student. “Since it was my first time, we solved a practice paper a day earlier, so we can understand how to do it in the exam centre,“ said Aishwarya.
Finding a writer for the HSC exams had worried Monika and her parents ahead of the exam. “It is not easy to find a writer because class XI students too have their exams soon after the board exams. It is a cause for concern for many parents,“ said Uday Nare, member of the Maharashtra State Board committee.--Vinamrata Borwankar
ARTIFICIAL ARMS BUT TRUE GRIT
MISHAP LAST YEAR
Kurla girl Monika More, then 17, slipped and fell in an uncovered pit while trying to board a CST-bound local from Ghatkopar on the afternoon of January 11, 2014. Two samaritans rushed to her rescue and took her to hospital, even carrying her severed arms to Hospital, which however could not be reattached. The incident gave a whole new dimension to commuter safety as the Railways opened up to the idea of raising platform height
AN INCIDENT WHICH CHANGED HER LIFE
The college student was a spirited dancer before the accident. Certified as an ideal student in school for her neat handwriting and etiquettes,
Monika was known in her locality for her love of drawing mehndi designs. She had opted for commerce as she wanted to become a chartered accountant Monika beat the odds to continue her education after the accident, but she needs to be accompanied by a family member or friend.
She is still getting used to perform daily essential activities like eating, boarding an autorickshaw or bus She is now appearing for her HSC exams with the help of a writer
ADVANCED TECH IN USE
Monika was fitted with myo-electric arms called Variplus, specially imported from Germany at the behest of KEM Hospital doctors. The kit was complete with hands, electric wrist rotator, a battery mounting set and electrodes