Hyderabad: Railway tracks in Telangana are among the most unsafe in the country with increasing deaths in railway mishaps.
National Crime Records Bureau data shows that there was a significant increase in accidents on tracks in 2015 as compared to previous years.
Over 1,140 people were killed on railway tracks in that year, making TS the sixth state in India with the highest rate of deaths on tracks. Most of the victims were drunk pedestrians, careless people with earphones plugged in, and people who cross tracks underestimating trains' speed. A large number of the accidents took place at the hundreds of unmanned railway crossings across the state.
Lack of warning boards or any other mechanism to inform pedestrians about the frequency of trains near railway tracks make them absolutely deadly.
In Hyderabad city, the railway lines between Hafeezpet and Borabanda, and Vidyanagar and Falaknuma were found to be the deadliest with maximum deaths. Several people walk on these tracks as they are short cuts, but the frequency of MMTS trains and other trains are so high that people get knocked down frequently, railway police says.
“Another trouble is that in several places there are no fencing to check people entering the tracks. Many victims, who were killed in the accidents, were walking along the track using it as a shortcut,” said a senior police officer from Secunde-rabad railway division.
The unmanned level crossings are another major vulnerable spot for mishaps. The South Central Railway still has around 380 unmanned level crossings.
The Anil Kakodkar Expert Committee report on Railway Safety, states that 36 per cent of accidents occur at unmanned level crossings.
“Analysis of Unmanned Level Crossing accidents indicates that the daylight period of 8 am to 7 pm is the most dangerous during which 86 per cent of accidents occurred,” the report said.
