July 26, 2025: In 2024, India allocated Rs 1,14,022 crore towards railway safety. Yet, 2,282 lives were lost on Mumbai’s suburban rail network during the same year — a stark contradiction between rising investment and persistent fatalities. A parliamentary response by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted a dramatic rise in safety spending: from Rs 39,463 crore in 2013–14 to a projected Rs 1,16,470 crore for 2025–26. The pressing question remains — why do deaths continue despite record budgets?
The answer lies not in catastrophic derailments or collisions, but in the routine risks of daily commuting. Fatalities often result from trespassing to avoid overcrowded bridges, falling from packed trains, colliding with poles while hanging out of coaches, or slipping into platform gaps during rush hour. Mumbai city accounted for the highest number of deaths in 2024 at 1,408, followed by Thane (615), Navi Mumbai (131), and Raigad (128).
Indian Railways has indeed made significant strides in operational safety, including Electronic Interlocking at over 6,600 stations, Track Circuiting at 6,640 locations, and the rollout of the anti-collision system Kavach over 1,548 route kilometres. Meanwhile, infrastructure under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) is expanding, but key works remain incomplete, and overcrowding persists.
The fragmented nature of railway safety enforcement contributes to the crisis. While Indian Railways manages infrastructure, the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) handle law enforcement and emergency response—often with limited coordination. Technically, trains are safer: weld failures have dropped by 90%, rail fractures by 88%, and consequential accidents have declined to 68 per year from 171.
However, these improvements do little for the everyday risks faced by millions of commuters. Unless policies begin addressing urban travel behaviour and congestion, Mumbai’s suburban rail will continue to straddle the line between lifeline and deathtrap.
Source: The Economic Times
