On Monday, June 9, Mumbai’s suburban rail system witnessed yet another serious tragedy. In a bizarre reaction, once again, Indian Railways (IR) officials, true to form, attempted to blame the victims, despite the fact that the circumstances leading to the incident play out daily across the Mumbai suburban network – whether the tragedy occurs at railway stations, inside local trains, or on the tracks is a matter of detail. The only truth the IR disowns them as railway accidents. I will return to this point shortly.

At least four people were killed and nine others injured in an unprecedented tragedy on the Mumbai suburban train network. They fell from two overcrowded local trains crossing each other in Thane district during the peak morning hours. According to railway officials, the incident occurred around 9:30 am between Diva and Kopar railway stations on Central Railway, one of the busiest sections of the Mumbai suburban railway. One train was travelling towards Kasara, the other towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. All deceased were reportedly between 30 and 35 years of age.

Although the railways have not put forward definitive reasons for the accident, according to Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Swapnil Nila, a probable cause is passengers hanging from the footboards of two trains travelling in opposite directions brushing against one another.

Three days have passed since the accident, yet Indian Railways has neither accepted responsibility nor announced any compensation for the next of kin of the deceased or the injured. Even the statutory independent inquiry by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) was not deemed necessay and a committee of five mid level railway officers have been tasked to investigate the accident. The task of compensating victims has been relegated to the Maharashtra state government, which has announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased and between Rs 50,000 and Rs 200,000 to the injured. It is apparent that baffled railway officials, after calling the accident bizarre and an isolated event, have resorted to their usual practice: blaming the victims.

As a frequent user of the Mumbai suburban rail network for over three decades and a keen observer of Indian Railways, I believe that, however bizarre this tragedy may seem, it was avoidable. Here are the primary reasons for such accidents:

This is not a recent problem, nor one specific to the railway ministry. The blame lies squarely with political leaders of all stripes who have occupied Rail Bhavan for at least the past five decades.

How bad is the situation? The short answer is: as bad as it can get. Rather than offer my own opinion, I will quote from the 2012 report of the High-Level Rail Safety Review Committee, headed by noted scientist Dr Anil Kakodkar. The report not only explained the scale of the problems facing the Mumbai suburban system but also provided workable solutions: “An estimated 15,000 people are killed on the entire railway system every year, of which about 6,000 deaths occur on the Mumbai Suburban System alone. The reluctance of Indian Railways to acknowledge these casualties, which do not........

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