The death of several commuters on the Central Railway tracks on Monday brings back focus on a yet-to-be-implemented Rs 21,000 crore makeover plan for the suburban train network prepared by an expert committee nine years ago.

The report, which had pointed out that the suburban train system was running 400 times its capacity, cautioned that the situation could explode by the year 2030 if nothing is done to improve the suburban train system, civic rights activist B N Kumar, who runs ‘Human Chain’ forum said.

People are forced to risk their lives due to fear of getting late to work and unsure of the next train coming in time. Hence, they travel by hook or crook, he said in his appeal to Railway Minister Ashwany Vaishnav.

The ‘Report On Review Of Rising Trend Of Accidental Deaths In Mumbai Suburban System’ is, unfortunately, gathering dust in the Central Railway shelves even as the commuters continue to die on the tracks and are forced to travel like worse than cattle, Kumar said posting the appeal on the PMO public grievances web site.

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