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The next time a passenger falls while trying to board a moving train, or has an accident while hanging on to the doors of the Mumbai suburban rail, Indian Railways will not be liable to pay compensation for death or injury, according an amendment sought by the Railways to the Railways Act, 1989.
Further, if one crosses railway tracks or "trespasses" on Railways property, a claim for compensation might not be entertained, as an injury/death in this case is due to a "criminal act", resulting from "carelessness or negligence", according to the amendment moved by the ministry of railways.
A separate clause also seeks to put the onus of producing proof that a passenger exercised "reasonable care and precaution to avoid occurrence of such an incident" on passengers. The clause, to be inserted as 124B in the Act, implicitly assumes the fault is on the part of a passenger, unless proven otherwise.
In the 11 years ended 2012, 23,473 people lost their lives due to accidents on suburban Mumbai train routes, according to media reports based on the response of Central Railways to a right-to-information application. It was also revealed about 10 people died daily on the Mumbai suburban rail.
Unmanned level crossings have proved to be another death trap. According to a high-level safety committee set up by the Centre, Indian Railways recorded about 15,000 deaths at such crossings in 2011-12. There are about 13,500 unmanned level crossings in across the country.
The Indian Railways Corporate Safety Plan (2003-2014), which aims to reduce accidents and passenger fatality, has an outlay of Rs 31, 385 crore. The programme envisages upgrading rolling stock and the signalling system, along with training staff. There is no official version on how the funds have been used, or whether they have been used at all.
