Install technology to detect objects on railway tracks: Bombay High Court

"This is a matter concerning the lives of thousands of Mumbaikars who travel daily by suburban trains. Prevention should be better than cure," the Bombay High Court observed on Friday while directing the Central and Western Railways to look up and install technology which will help detect foreign objects on railway tracks.

A division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice PR Bora asked Railways advocate Suresh Kumar to consult senior railway officials and consider the use of technology to prevent any incidents of sabotage being planned either by miscreants, terrorists or anti-social elements, by placing boulders and slabs on tracks. This apart, CR and WR officials have been directed to place on record its decision before the court on March 17.

The bench pressed for the installation of technology because it felt that it was humanly impossible for gangmen to monitor tracks. However, it asked the Railways to increase manpower and also enlist the help of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Home Guards for the same. The question of sabotage came up after the court referred to several cases reported in the media about foreign objects being kept on tracks at different places in the country.

The court made this observation while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by activist Sameer Zaveri, highlighting the problem of accidental deaths at railway stations.