Chennai: While the government railway police (GRP) claims that the deaths due to trespassing have seen a decline, but the number of people booked for the same remains high. According to data from the GRP, the number of deaths on tracks declined from 1,410 in 2015 to 1,297 in 2016 – an 8.7 percent decline and deaths due to falling from trains declined from 118 in 2015 to 62 in 2016.
The crossing of railway track is an offence, under section 147 of The Railways Act, 1989, amounting to trespassing punishable with a fine of '1,000 and/ or imprisonment up to six months. Those travelling on footboards and top of trains are punishable under the section 156 of the Railways Act, 1989, which amounts for an imprisonment of three months and/or a fine of Rs 500. But number of people crossing tracks to ensure that they don’t miss trains is huge.
“Some people cross the tracks to avoid overbridges but there are also others who know that if they miss a train, they would have to wait for a long time. Office-goers and students can’t afford to miss a train,” said a commuter, C.L. Ramakrishnan. “There should be trains every five minutes. Only then crowds aboard trains can be reduced.” According to senior GRP officials, the deployment of personnel to create awareness among people, educative programmes, distribution of pamphlets, and the imposition of fines on trespassing has kept a stringent tab on rule flouters.
“There are checks on people travelling on the footboards and they are fined for the same,” said a senior Railway Protection Force (RPF) official. “We will be further strengthening the awareness drives so that people don’t cross tracks at the cost of their lives.”
