New Thane-Diva line: 'Faster trains lead to accidents, need underpass near Mumbra'

People cross the railway tracks at Retibunder near Mumbra station

With the increase in speed as trains zip past Retibunder slums between Mumbra and Kalwa, residents have alleged the number of deaths and injuries while crossing rail tracks has been on the rise and said there was an urgent need for a foot overbridge or an underpass to facilitate connectivity across the tracks. On Saturday, a citizen's head was cut off after he was run over while crossing tracks.

In the recent past, there have been two accidents while crossing tracks. "The last incident took place late in the evening on Saturday. We could not even see what happened in a split second. Since the new lines have opened, local trains and outstation express trains zip past the area without lowering speed, unlike earlier when they would slow down near Mumbra. This has led to panic among the residents here," Balu Kasar, who lost a family member along the same stretch earlier last year, told mid-day.

The promised subway near Mumbra needs to be built soon, before more lives are lost, say locals

"A few months ago, there was a similar accident and the body was so badly mutilated that no one could identify the victim. With trains going faster, the tracks have become a death trap. The promised subway needs to be built soon, before more lives are lost," said Roma C, another resident.

In November 2017, the local MP along with a team of railway and Thane Municipal Corporation had conducted a survey for land required for the road underbridge, but there has been no development since. Local MLA and state Housing Minister Jitendra Ahwad, too, had staged a protest and conducted a meeting with local officials and residents in 2021 to expedite work on the subway.

Railway officials said that they were working with TMC officials to get the work done. "A foot overbridge had been sanctioned earlier, but the work was stopped later due to the change of alignment of the new 5th and 6th lines as the footbridge needed to be much higher than the regular ones at a height of 30 feet, which would lead to underutilisation. Hence, it has now been decided to construct a road underbridge which will be a convenient means of crossing rail tracks. Now that the work on new lines is complete, we will expedite this," a senior railway official said.

Nov 2017
Month when survey for a road underbridge was conducted