Union minister for railways Piyush Goyal said, "Closed door in regular trains is not possible. The closed door systemnly can be inplememted only in vestibule coaches."
Falling off from crowded local trains has been one of the major reasons behind death on railway tracks. To prevent such mishaps, the Western Railway (WR) had been testing the workability of closed-doored door system or automatic sliding doors in local trains. However, the trial has failed and it has been decided to shut the doors on the 'closed doors' system.
Confirming the same, Union minister for railways Piyush Goyal said, “Closed door in regular trains is not possible. The closed door systemn can be implemented only in vestibule coaches. Automatic closed door system is not possible without air-conditioning.”
As many as 654 people died after falling off from moving trains in 2017, while 18 died as they stood dangerously on footboard and took a hit from a pole. Thus, the idea of closed door was taken into consideration.
The WR was conducting the trials in the second class ladies compartment of one train. However, it has become obvious that the plan has serious flaws, including the door's opening and closing on time, poor ventilation inside, among others.
Despite of forced ventilation inside coaches, it becomes suffocating during peak hours when more than 16 commuters per square metre travel per coach.
Officials from Railway Board said that the only way out is to convert all trains into air conditioned ones. In the coming months, the WR and CR will get 19 more AC locals that shall be manufactured by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
In fact, the Chairman of Railway Board V Yadav - the top administrative boss on Indian Railways, told DNA that he will visit the city to look into multi crore projects that have been stranded for mustiple reasons. These include steps taken to curb death on tracks, MUTP-2 where new 5-6 rail lines on Thane-Diva, 6th line on Mumbai Central-Borivali and 5th line on Mahim-Santacruz are pending for over a decade.
DEATH ON TRACKS
The idea was taken into consideration to prevent commuters falling off to their death from moving local trains
- 2734 Total number of track deaths in 2018
- 1476 died while crossing tracks
- 650 died after falling from a moving train
- 18 died after hitting pole
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