Crossing Elphinstone tracks, Western Railway employees flout rules daily

The railways might be crying itself hoarse with announcements exhorting commuters not to cross tracks, but a scene that plays out at Elphinstone station is proof of the fact that everybody loves a good short-cut.

Employees of Western Railway's Lower Parel Workshop- which has one of its gates right at the south-west tip of Elphinstone station, about a couple of meters away from platform number 1- are a good example. Every time the gates of the workshop open to let out or let in a long-distance train or locomotive which comes there for repairs and overhauling, workers pour out to cross the track and hop onto platform number 1.

Very often a slow train coming in from Lower Parel station is meters away, hidden by the retaining walls of the workshop, when these employees cross over. As one employee readily agreed, during the rains this is a disaster waiting to happen.

"Thanks to umbrellas and general low visibility during the rains, it gets impossible to see the train. The chances of getting mowed down are very high but unfortunately people cross over whenever they get the chance," said an employee who did not wish to identify himself.

To make matters worse, the landing of the foot-overbridge on the southern tip of the station is less than a couple of meters away from the gates, but it is walled off. So employees coming out of the gates cannot climb onto the FOB. This, some officials said, was to ensure that the security of the workshop was maintained. "There needs to be some way by which the workshop can be connected to the FOB landing, so that people who come out of the workshop gates can use the FOB rather than risk their lives in such a fashion every day," said another employee.

Shailendra Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, WR, informed dna that he would alert the Lower Parel workshop authorities about the issue so that corrective action could be taken.