As per the statistics obtained through an RTI application, the stations at Thane, Mankhurd and Borivali feature at the top of the list of suburban railway stations on the central, harbour and western lines, respectively, where the most track deaths occurred last year.

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As per the response to a Right To Information (RTI) plea filed by railway activist Samir Zaveri, more number of women died on rail tracks in 2018 as compared to the year before.

The Central Railway, which carries 42 lakh people every day, saw a marginal rise in the number of deaths from 2017. Last year, the fatalities stood at 1,933 while in 2017, there were 1,928 people who lost their lives.

On WR, the number of people who died dropped from 1,086 in 2017 to 1,048 in 2018.

Overall on the suburban section, there was a drop in the number of track deaths in 2018 — down to 2,981 from 3,014 in 2017.

Death from people slipping in the gap between the train and platform has dropped, after the railways increased the height of platform from 720 mm to 900 mm.

Sources said that one of the biggest reasons behind the deaths take place at these stations is overcrowding, especially during peak hours.

Apart from that, people trespassing on the tracks also remains a major reason for deaths on tracks.

The three key stations are the ones where lakhs of passengers board and alight across the city.

"The biggest reason for these deaths is overcrowded coaches of local trains. There is a need for introducing more 15-car coaches," said Zaveri.

According to last year's statistics, 711 people died after falling from moving trains, while 19 people died after hitting poles while they were poised dangerously on the train's footboard.

In 2017, the figures stood at 654 and 12, respectively.

The railway authorities say that they are constructing a series of foot overbridges with escalators and lifts at a number of key stations so that passengers do not cross tracks to avoid climbing the staircase to change platforms. They are also building boundary walls but the local slum dwellers keep breaking it down, officials said.