Now, guards on central line to alert motorman 500 m before a station

Mumbai: The Central Railway (CR), in an attempt to reduce instances of trains overshooting platforms, has asked guards of all local trains to alert the motorman 500 metres before an approaching station.

“We want the guards to alert the motormen with the ring of a bell. This is applicable only on fast trains, as motormen know they need to stop at all stations on the slow track,” a senior railway official said.

The issue is with fast services which have extra halts at slow stations. Generally, a fast local on the central line stops at Byculla, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Thane, Dombivali and Kalyan. “But, we also have trains with additional stops at slow stations such as Mulund, Bhandup, Vikhroli, Diva. Sometimes, the motorman forgets there is a stop, and when he realises he needs to slow down, it is late,” the official said.

Officials said the measure in no way absolves the motorman of his responsibility, but aims to ensure passengers’ safety.

There are also instances of signal passing at danger (SPAD) on the fast line, when a motorman fails to stop despite a red signal. While there is a system to stop the train in such cases, SPAD risks passengers’ lives, and errant motormen are often charge-sheeted.

A guard on the CR, who did not wish to be named, said, “Cases of platform overshooting rarely occur, and we have an unofficial system to prevent it. In SPAD, guards have little or no role to play since they cannot see the signal,” the guard said.

Railway officials said guards’ unions are opposed to the measure to check overshooting, though it is in place in the Western Railway on fast and slow lines. “They do not want to create a system on the lines of the WR as they are afraid they will also be included in the charge sheet if there is a case of overshooting,” another railway official said.