The Eastern Railway’s Sealdah division has a scary secret buried in its files. Sealdah suburban division recorded as many as 720 casualties in 2007-08 and in most cases, faulty railway engineering and technical snags were to be blamed for the loss of lives. “There’s an alarming increase in the number of accidents,” said a senior Eastern Railway official.

The peak-hour rush at Sealdah suburban division has always been beyond the control of the Railways. In fact, in the suburban section not all casualties are run-over accidents. A vast majority of these occur when commuters, travelling in over-crowded compartments, hit themselves against signal posts or electrical posts located close to the tracks. The situation is particularly treacherous at bends and curves. Also, incidents in which commuters have fallen off from over-crowded compartments have been on the rise.

“The Railways has clear-cut specifications about the minimum distance that separates poles from the tracks. But merely adhering to the technical aspect is not adequate, as we can see that accidents are on the rise despite the guidelines,” said a senior Eastern Railway official.

Of the 2,000-odd casualties recorded by the Eastern Railway during 2007-08, maximum number of cases was recorded under the Sealdah division, followed by Howrah. The highest instances of death toll has been reported from the tracks located between Belghoria and Sodepur stations in Sealdah North section and Sonarpur station in the South section, official records showed.

The seven-compartment trains can’t accommodate the office-hour rush, but adding more coaches would also involve extending the platforms. In places where the extension of platforms have been completed, the authorities have not relocated the masts to a safe distance away from the platform. Consequently, those commuters who board packed trains and not manage to squeeze in their way into the compartments hit themselves against the poles just moments after the train leaves the platform.

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