Railway tracks: trudging on death traps

Police say on an average at least 50 people are run over by trains while crossing the tracks

People put their life at risk walking in between railway tracks. Photo: M. Subhash

It’s literally a trudge into death trap. Unmindful of death hurtling towards them, they leisurely walk along railway lines, happily listening to music on their mobile phones. The blaring music, most often, drowns even the powerful horn of the train and, in a jiffy, the locomotive mows them down.

This is yet another 174 case (in police parlance a suspicious death: called so because of Section 174 dealing with unnatural deaths). Police say that on an average, at least 50 people are run over by trains either while crossing or walking along railway tracks in areas covered by three railway police stations in the State capital.

The compelling reason behind the wilful act in courting death is the propensity to use a short cut to reach their destinations. For example, the distance between Uppuguda and Yakutpura could be about 8 km by road. But if you walk along the railway line, the distance will only be three km.

Mostly, these run-over cases are reported on railway track stretches between Sitaphalmandi-Falaknuma and Fatehnagar-Borabanda. Mostly, the killer locomotives turn out to be MMTS trains because of their frequency of operation. Despite knowing the danger, scores of people living in areas adjacent to the tracks either walk along the rails or cross them nonchalantly to reach their destinations.

Railway police officials say that those walking along the tracks mostly underestimate the train speed, especially MMTS trains and end up being cut into two pieces. With the MMTS being slightly wider than the express trains, the victims still get knocked down though they try to stand aside. On many occasions people get run over while crossing the tracks.

Just three days ago, an old man was run over by an MMTS train near Fatehnagar railway station. The victim, Afzal (65), was crossing the tracks when he lost balance and fell down on the tracks. “He struggled to get up but could not succeed,” says Nampally Railway Sub-Inspector V. Madhusudan Rao.

Hafeezpet - Borabanda line has been described as one of the most dangerous lines because of the steep curve on this stretch. “Because of the curves it is difficult for people to identify on which track the train is coming,” he says. Officials say construction of a compound wall along the tracks or fencing them in the city could solve the problem.