Can you
imagine what these are ? These are hanging concrete balls installed in
Indonesian Capital of Jakarta. Why would somebody put these big sized concrete
balls ringed together ~ difficult to
tell!! ~ can it be intended to cause some malice ? ~ 24th
July 2018 would remain a blotted dark day in the history of EMU trains in the
metropolis.
one’s heart
bleeds on reading gory details of the train accident at St Thomas Mount station
yesterday in Chennai .. .. accident !! ~
the word often obstructs the study of prevention.
The word suggests an event that takes
place without foresight or expectations, yet such events as a group are not
random and do not occur by chance; they can be expected to happen, even if the
time, place, and precise circumstances cannot be foreseen. When the word is
used to describe human error, it frequently does so in a way that inhibits
examination of the factors contributing to the error and consequent injury. The
public usually associates the word with an event, not with the damage that
results. Sad, deep sense of anguish and no words
can ever soothe those victims !
In Mumbai, the abrupt closure of Lower Parel’s Delisle
bridge, a key east-west link, on Tuesday morning led to such a concentration of
pedestrians in the lane under it that for over two hours it seemed that a
stampede was imminent. So congested is the area that other than the narrow
Datta Ahire Marg, there are no public pathways to cross over into the Lower
Parel office district, especially for the hordes of commuters who alight at
Currey Road station, travelling from the eastern suburbs. For residents of
buildings along the lane, the scenes were reminiscent of what occurred on a
similarly confined stretch not so long ago, not so far away: The death of 23
people on the Elphinstone Road footbridge last September. Although there was no
rain on Tuesday, the bigger worry for commuters is that it could take at least
two years for the Delisle bridge—declared corroded and dangerous—to be
reconstructed, according to Western Railway.
Back home in Chennai, tragedy
struck rush-hour commuters on Tuesday when at least four men travelling on the
footboard of a suburban train were killed and five others were injured after
they slammed against a concrete fence near the track at St Thomas Mount Railway
Station. The accident took place at 8.22am, police said.
The first rail chugged on
April 16, 1853 from Bombay to Thane – Bori Bunder to Thane. 3 years later in 1856, [July 1, 1856] the first train of South India ran from
Royapuram to Wallajah linking Arcot, the titular capital of Nawab of Carnatic,
near Ranipet. Besides the major Railways
Stations of Chennai Central and Central Egmore, the metropolis of Chennai has
commuter rail system operating Electric Multiple Units in 3 lines – Chennai
Beach to Tambaram; Chennai Central to Thiruvallur and Chennai Central
Gummidipoondi. In addition there is the
MRTS, presently operating from Chennai Beach to Velachery and Chennai Metro on
two lines.
Chennai has a complex
railway network ~ popularly known as Electric trains, it is ‘Electrical
multiple units (EMUs)’ operating on alternating current (AC) drawn from
over-head cables. To recall some more history, the meter gauge suburban service
was inaugurated on April 2, 1931. Then
came the gauge conversion project by 1999 there were two MG and one BG line.
of the sad incident, witnesses
told police that as the train was rolling on to platform 4, normally reserved
for express trains, several commuters hanging on to the footboard in the
compartment next to the engine smashed into the concrete fencing wall built on
platform 3 and fell to the ground. Four of them were crushed to death under the
train that was still moving fairly fast. Railway
authorities said shoulder bags of several commuters travelling footboard hit
the cement fence, and 10 passengers fell to the ground.
A snag in the overhead
electrical line had forced them to run slow local trains on the fast lines
meant for express services, said southern railway officials. The problem was
reported around 7.10am and delayed trains plying between Chennai Beach and
Tambaram by about 30 minutes. This, officials said, led to overcrowding of
trains and the Chennai Beach-Tirumalpur train, which was involved in the
accident, had to be diverted on to platform 4. Staff manning the control room
of the state’s emergency service provider, Emergency Management Research
Institute (EMRI), received the first call by 8.24am when a commuter said
several people were injured in a train accident at St Thomas Mount. The closest
108 ambulance reached the spot at 8.32am. Nine more ambulances arrived in the
next few minutes.
The cement
fence separating platform 3 and the track at St Thomas Mount Railway Station
has accounted for at least 10 deaths in the last one month, say railway
sources. All those killed were leaning out while travelling on the footboard
and were hit by the fence, they added. Almost all of them were youngsters,
including a youth in his 20s returning home after his first day at work. How sad .. ..
Slow suburban trains
generally stop at platforms 1 and 2 at the station. Platform 3 is a virtual
island, separated from platform 4 by a track. Not used by passengers on a
regular basis, speeding ex trains and fast local trains veer past these
platforms. For operational exigencies, like on Tue morning, slow trains are allowed
on to platforms 3 or 4, TOI reports. The
cement fence over there is to avoid commuters from getting sucked out by the pressure
created speeding train or falling on the track,” a railway official is quoted as saying. They sought to debunk the theory that the
fence was built in violation of railway standards. The distance to be
maintained between the track and any permanent or temporary structure nearby,
called schedule of dimensions (SOD), varies for different sections, for example
along curves or dif- St. ferent types of rolling Mount stock, like wagons or
passenger coaches, he said. “For the Chennai suburban train network, the SOD is
2.1351 metres. The structure at St Thomas Mount station was well beyond this
distance. It was safe,” the official said. This means the entire body of each
of the commuter including hands and their shoulder bags could have been outside
the train during the run, causing them to get entangled with the fence.
What it was technically,
it practically has caused deaths and should not continue – everyone of us is to
blame – commuters are negligent; the backpacks are a virtual nospace zone for
others risking its carriers and Railways should well have known, how the system
operates and what safe distance actually is ~ sad, that poor planning
infrastructure has caused so many deaths, all of which perhaps could have been
avoided if all of them chose to be vigilant and not negligent. There can never be any justification for footboarding
stating lesser frequency or that people cannot afford share autos or cabs, have
no other option but travel worse than “cattle class”. Human lives are precious
and the accident is a cause of deep concern.
With heavy heart – S.
Sampathkumar
24th July 2018.
PS
: The picture that
you saw at the start of the post are large-sized concrete balls strung
above railway lines to stop 'roof riders'. Railways in Indonesia have hung
these concrete balls above train tracks at select places in order to prevent
commuters from riding on carriage roofs. The first balls were installed just
above carriage-height near a station outside the capital, Jakarta.
Previous attempts to deter roof riders included spraying roofs with paint,
spreading oil on carriages and hiring musicians to perform safety songs.
Reportedly, all those initiatives failed and this is hoped to be the ultimate
deterrent. Roof riders also face the possibility of imprisonment. The
authorities there believe, that these balls would deliver serious blows to the
head if they didn't knock a person off the roof of a train - will be enough to
deter 'train surfers'.
Looks cruel and barbaric
but that menace of voluntarily endangering life has to end somehow.
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