Med 63.000 km spor har Indien verdens fjerde største jernbanenet, men sikkerheden langs sporene lader meget tilbage at ønske og det gigantiske jernbaneselskab med 1,4 millioner ansatte er i skudlinjen.
Lax safety standards on India’s railway lines have caused thousands of deaths, a government committee has said, calling the deaths a “massacre”, according to BBC online Monday.
The committee said 15.000 people are killed by trains every year trying to cross tracks that are not fenced off. Almost half of the deaths occur in Mumbai (Bombay), the countrys economic capital, where the report said there were not enough pedestrian crossings (fodgængerovergange).
The report criticised state-owned railway network India Railways for failing to implement safety measures. It called for urgent investment to prevent the “unacceptable massacre” among other things adequate fencing adjacent to the tracks.
The group of experts on the committee noted that Indian Railways is reluctant to acknowledge the deaths as train accidents.
The committee, headed by one of the country’s foremost scientists, Anil Kakodkar, says people cross railway tracks unlawfully because there are not enough foot bridges provided.
