Alert Motormen of Central Railway turned 'True Life Saviours' and saved 12 lives on the railway track in the last five months. Of these, 4 were saved in the month of August 2022. Most of these cases were related to suicide attempts.
On 31st August 2022, Sanjay Kumar Chouhan, Motorman, Mumbai division of central railway, while working on Thane-Ambernath local, noticed a man lying on the track in front of the train near Thane station. He immediately applied emergency brakes and stopped the train. The man later got up and left the track and his suicide attempt was averted. The train manager was duly informed, and the journey continued.
This was not the first incident of such type. On 28th August G S Bist, another Motorman of Mumbai division of central railway, while working on Titwala-CSMT local, saw one lady aged 55 to 56 years approximately come in the middle of the track and stood there in front of the train between Thane - Kalwa.
GS Bist immediately applied emergency brakes and stopped the train in time a few meters before the lady and saved her life. He had her removed from the track with the help of two lady passengers, carried her in the train till Thane and handed her over to on-duty GRP Thane.
Similarly, on 27th August SV Jadhav, Motorman of Mumbai division of central railway, while working on CSMT-Thane local, noticed a girl approaching the track between the Chinchpokli-Byculla UP local line. He immediately stopped the train a few feet before the girl and saved her life. He informed the Train Manager about the same. Later on, RPF staff removed that girl from the track and the motorman worked safely up to the destination.
On 19th August, Ram Shabd, another motorman of central railways Mumbai division, while working on the Ambarnath-CSMT train, saw one boy, aged approx. 19–20 years, while entering Chinchpokli station, jumped in the middle of the track and stood in front of the train. He immediately applied emergency brakes and stopped the train. Later the on-duty RPF removed the boy from the track.
"Out of these 12 incidents, 4 cases of lifesaving incidents occurred in August, 2 cases in July, 3 cases in June, 2 cases in May, and 1 case in April. Some visuals of these lifesaving incidents have become very popular in print and electronic and social media,'' said Shivaji Sutar, chief public relation officer of CR adding that motormen driving the suburban trains display a high level of presence of mind and stop trains in time to save lives.
When contacted, a motorman said, "Most of the time people were frustrated and didn't want to vacate the track. Every time when we notice anyone on the track, we start honking, but few people who come on the railway track for suicide don't respond to the horn, after that, we apply the emergency brake."
Asked about the minimum distance for the complete halt of local trains, another motorman said, "It depends on the speed of the train, If a local train running at the speed of 100 kmph, then it needs at least 500 meters for the complete halt. If the speed is low then the train could be controlled in just a few hundred meters.
