Crossing Railway Tracks Is An Offense.
Updated: Jan 21
Railways have been the daily life of most commuters right from the time the Britishers built it in 1853. The Indian railways is one of the largest public transport which not only ppphelps people travel between home to work but also helps connect different states. Times have changed but the mentality of crossing the tracks has still not changed in people. The Railways Act was introduced in 1989 and was enforced in 1990.
Section 147 of the Railways Act, 1989 speaks about trespass and refusal to desist from trespass. The punishment for the crime is six months imprisonment or with a fine which can extend to one thousand rupees or both but the fine shall not be less than five hundred rupees. my
The problem with the section is that in so many years people still tend to cross tracks in order to catch another train. Example: A man who stays at Goregaon and works at Churchgate usually catches a slow train or takes a train that will end at Borivali and return to Churchgate being a fast train. He suddenly hears an announcement that on the other platform from Goregaon a fast train will be stopping; he jumps and crosses the tracks in order to get the train. During this time if a train happens to run over him what will be the consequences for his life or his family. It is also the duties of the railway department to see that people have proper access to overhead bridges or underground subways for commuting. Due to the lack of an appropriate number of bridges or subways commuters choose to cross the track in order to avoid the rush.
There are multiple cases where the driver of a school bus has negligently driven on to the train tracks and leading into collision with the train and killing passengers; fourteen out of forty children died in Medak. Twenty five out of forty children in Nanded. 17 children died in Hyderabad. These were due to unmanned gates or no fencing.
The Indian railways has however tried many attempts to educate or warn people about the consequences but still people do not follow the rules. Based on an article in the Times of India on Sept 19, 2012 there were 14 deaths in a span of 48 hours in Kolkata. According to an article in India Today there were 8700 people who were killed by railway track crossing accidents in 2020. While the entire count compiled by the information given by the state governments a total of 56,271 people died and 5938 were injured from the duration of 2016 to 2019.
Case laws
Swaranlata Barua v. Union of India [1958-65] ACJ 365
It was held by Assam high court that the Railway was responsible to erect a gate and a person to close the gate whenever the train was scheduled to pass inorder to avoid any accident.
East coast rail gave some precautions
PRECAUTIONS TO ENSURE SAFETY OF RAIL USERS/PUBLIC
·Don’t trespass Railway Tracks at Railway Stations or in mid-section. Use Foot Over Bridges (FOBs), Sub-ways, Road Over Bridge (ROB)/Road Under Bridge (RUB), Railway Crossings, etc., to cross Railway Tracks.
·Don’t use Mobile Phones, while walking near to Railway Tracks or while boarding/alighting the train.
·Don’t gather or indulge in any activity or in the vicinity of Railway Tracks.
·Don’t indulge in any form of photography including taking selfies in the vicinity of Railway tracks.
·Don’t stand on the FootBoard of the train or on the edge of Platforms. Don’t Board/alight trains on the wrong side at Railway Stations.
·Don’t Board/alight a running train or crowd the entrance of the coach, which causes the movement of the passengers.
Suggestions
The land near the railways which is usually illegally encroached should be cleared as these encroachers often cross tracks to get to work or to the platforms to catch a train. The railways should fence their area wherever it is possible in order that the public does not get access to the sensitive areas. The railway police force should increase their rounds and force in accident prone areas. Major junctions where the foot fall is more should be constantly under observation.
The railway act should be amended with greater fines and stricter rules. The one thousand rupees fines are like a small amount to the people today so the fines should be high where the person gets scared and doesn’t commit such a crime.
Conclusion
The legal cell along with the governing bodies and college students should conduct awareness drives regarding the railway act, the harms, punishments, penalties and precautions people need to take while traveling via train. Stricter rules need to be taken in order to ale people follow the rules.
Comments