Over 350 People Died on Railway Tracks This Year in Delhi 

More than 350 people have died while crossing railway tracks in Delhi in the last nine months this year. According to the data released by Delhi Police, 358 people died till September 15 this year while they were trying to cross railway tracks. The highest number of casualties took place at Sabzi Mandi Railway Station area with 78 deaths, reported the Times of India citing the Delhi Police data.

Sarai Rohilla (75), Delhi Cantt (64) and Hazrat Nizamuddin (51) are also not far behind. Old Delhi, Anand Vihar, and New Delhi also recorded 50, 32 and 8 deaths respectively. The total number of victims included 29 women and 329 men.

In the national capital 410 people had died while crossing railway tracks in 2020.

Police said most of the victims were the factory workers and the occupants of the slums near the railway tracks. “Most of the time, we recover bodies in the morning or evening. It is the time when workers go to factories or return homes using railway tracks,” an officer of Delhi Police was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

The TOI report mentioned that near Nangloi railway station, on Tuesday at around 2:40 pm, it was found that around 50 school children were crossing the railway tracks while returning home. However, there was a foot overbridge (FOB) just a few metres away.

Most of the people in such areas are of the opinion that the railway tracks are convenient for getting onto the other side as FOB involves a long walk.

According to Railway authorities, they have registered more than 20 cases of trespassing at the Nangloi railway station last month. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways), Harendra Kumar Singh, said that they have taken various steps to avoid such accidents which include patrolling the tracks to “best possible extent”, and educating people.

According to Railway Board data released in June this year, over 8700 people died on the railway tracks across the country in 2020, even though passenger train services were stopped for several months due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. In a response to a query under Right to Information Act the Railway Board replied that 8,733 people died across the country between January and December 2020.

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