Move aimed at ensuring safety might lead to the cancellation of 30 train services during peak hours
Mumbai : Choosing safety as the priority, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has imposed a speed restriction of 25 km/h at the entrance of terminating platforms, such as Churchgate. The decision was taken on Wednesday following the freak accident on Sunday in which a Bhayandar fast local rammed into the buffers at the dead end of Churchgate station after entering the station at 36 km/h.
The speed restriction, which will reduce the speed of the train from the present 45 km/h to 25 km/h while entering the platform, is all set to cost heavy in terms of operators and will lead to the cancellation of 30 train services during peak hours. A total of 18 services will be cancelled during the morning peak hours, while another 12 services would be cancelled during the evening peak hours.
A senior official from Western Railway (WR) said, “While we understand the safety associated by restricting the speed, the loss to suburban operations is drastic. With the speed restriction, the intervening time of three minutes of trains departing from Churchgate will not be possible and we will lose out on train services during the peak hours.”
Following the directives of Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, railway officials are also working towards improving the safety of the trains by putting up auxiliary warning systems at the terminal stations. Railway officials are also likely to conduct a meeting to finalise the details of the system that will also keep a check on the speed of the train once it enters a station.
Iram Siddique