Removing transformer poles a costly business, says Railways, ask why people hang out of coaches

A day after two passengers died after falling off a crowded train in Belghoria, the body of another woman was found on the tracks at Bidhanpalli, near Patipukur. According to the locals, she had met a similar end.

Though the Eastern Railways was not forthcoming with the data, its officials said over 900 casualties have been reported since January in the Sealdah division alone, with a majority of the accidents occurring during the rush hour. The Government Railway Police has reported over 200 unnatural deaths in the tracks near Dum Dum and around 100 near Naihati, of which a majority occurred after falls from over-crowded trains.

Sealdah station handles nearly 11 to 12 lakh passengers per day.

On Thursday, train services were disrupted along the Sealdah-Dum Dum-Belghoria stretch for hours after the body of 21-year-old Kakali Mondal, a resident of Kalyani, was found around 10 am. Angry locals squatted on the tracks, protesting against the callousness of the Railways. The body, they alleged, was attended to nearly three hours after it was discovered.

On Wednesday, six people fell off a local train after hitting an unused electric pole, resulting in the deaths of two youths. The injured, who were admitted to hospitals, are reportedly stable. The railway authorities have also launched an inquiry into the accident.

“Of all the unnatural deaths that are reported, nearly 50 to 60 per cent of cases happen due to a fall from the train in the rush hour,” said a senior officer of the Eastern Railway. “Hundreds of such cases do not even get reported.”

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