A 65-year-old man died on Sunday morning after being hit by an engine while crossing the tracks on the trolley path at the Bangalore City Railway Station on Saturday night.
The incident has brought to focus the danger of passengers cutting across tracks instead of using the footbridge to go from one platform to another.
S. Balachander, who was travelling to Chikmagalur, was first taken to Victoria Hospital and then to a private hospital where he succumbed.
The concrete trolley path that cuts across the railway lines is meant mainly for railway staff to move goods.
Despite the safety issues involved, many passengers use the trolley path as a shortcut, avoiding the footbridge, the subway or the escalator, which are meant for the passengers.
“Accidents on the trolley path are not new. Slippages, both on the trolley track and on the platforms, are very common,” said Sunanda Arul, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM), Bangalore, South Western Railway. She said, “Despite all the other available avenues, people take shortcuts.”
Added to this is the fact that many people plug earphones and listen to music or talk on their mobile phones while crossing the track and are oblivious to the oncoming trains, say Railway officials.
She also said many people sit and chat in stationary compartments, and jump out when the train starts moving. As they are unable to take the momentum of the running train in their stride, they fall and seriously injure themselves. Prakash Mandoth, former member of the Zonal Railway Users’ Consultative Meetings of Southern Railway, Chennai, said: “Don’t take the trolley path to cross tracks. If you want to avoid steps, take the lift”.
