Railways train status? Late! How potty problem has affected train timings

This 'squatters' problem has turned a bane for the Railways and equally so for the passengers who go through an indescribable ordeal!  It turns out that Mumbai Suburban Railways has cautioned motormen to go really slow on stretches that have been tagged as having 'night soil and unhygienic track conditions,' reports DNA.

According to the report, ‘Night soil’ is a better sounding term for nothing but human excreta! So, speed restrictions have been imposed apart from other reasons such as the construction of bridges, newly laid lines, the presence of level crossing, defective rail, etc.

Central Railway’s (CR) condition is reportedly even worse than that of Western Railway’s (WR). While WR authorities have issued speed restrictions on 15 locations, WR authority's count is more than 60 locations. In order to avoid human casualty, CR has even asked the motormen to slow down the speed to as low as 20-30 kmph.

“It is surprising that motormen have been asked to slow the trains down only because people are defecating next to the tracks,” a senior CR official told DNA. “Why can’t the administration send the Railway Police Force to remove these encroachers from rail land?”

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Parsik tunnel, between Kanjurmarg and Vikhroli, and King’s Circle-Mahim are some of the prominent stretches where the trains will have to slow down. However, confirmed reports are not there on whether the stretch between Govandi-Mankhurd on Harbour Line has also deteriorated due to human excreta.

DNA reported that the railway union members have said that the tracks are very difficult to maintain.  “The problem escalates before monsoon as we are expected to remove garbage and human waste,” a member of the Central Railway Mazdoor Sangh, said.

With the monsoon season fast approaching, the Railways, and along with it, the passengers too, are set to go through more torrid times.