Rlys told to introduce coaches with automatic doors

A division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice P Rajamanickam made the above observation while disposing a PIL moved by one Sathish seeking for a direction to the railways to take steps to fix automatic doors in all MRTS trains that are plying in the City to ensure passenger safety.

He had submitted in his plea that inaction on the part of the railways in not providing automatic closure of doors in such trains leads to foot board travel, resulting in fatal or grievous injuries.

Responding to the plea, standing counsel for railway PT Ram Kumar submitted that suburban and MRTS trains cannot be compared with metro trains as the latter is run in underground tunnels and over-bridges most of the time mandating automatic closure of doors.

“Insofar as suburban and MRTS trains, on account of increasing population coupled with the fact that railway fares are cheaper, many people prefer travelling in such trains, unlike in metro where passengers cannot be accommodated more than the capacity,” he said.

He further added that trial based air-conditioned local trains with automatic closure doors is in operation in Western and Central Railways in Mumbai and gradually, it will be installed in all new coaches especially in suburban and MRTS trains being run by the Southern Railways.

Also, noting that the provision of automatic doors is the policy decision of the railways, the counsel contended that there cannot be any positive order to that effect since fixing doors in the existing trains is not feasible as it would cost Rs 3,500 crore and requires long time to replace them, which would be pushing public to inconvenience.