Most of these accidents occur when people hang out of the compartments while the train is leaving the platform, he said.

Apart from Dum Dum and Naihati, Ballygunge, Titagarh, Sodepur, Agarpara, Khardah, Sonarpur, Belghoria, Barrackpore, Bidhan Nagar report the maximum number of such accidents. In comparison to the train tracks in Mumbai and Delhi where overhead wires have replaced transformers, Bengal still continues to use these poles. The unused transformer that caused Wednesday’s accident is one of the hundreds lying defunct along the tracks in the Sealdah division. Asked about the total number of such defunct transformers, PK Gupta, ADRM, said, “we do not know the exact number”.

Removing these transformers, he said, is a “costly affair” and it is expensive to lease out tenders for the removal of just one pole. There are many water hoses of the British period still lying near the tracks that are unused today, much like these poles. “But how can people blame the Railways, when they themselves hang out of compartments which they are not supposed to do?” he asked.

Most transformer poles are at a distance of 2.2 meters from the track. The pole where the accident occurred was 2.32 meters away from the track and had been lying defunct since 2004.

But officials agree that tracks often expand and contract due to heat, which results in a slight change in position, which has fatal results — especially when the poles stand near the bends.

With coaches having a sitting capacity of around 120, tickets are issued for nearly thrice the number per compartment.

... contd.