Rangarajapuram rail way crossing a death trap

Chennai: They yelled at her. She did not pay heed. They even threw small stones to draw her attention, but she kept talking on the phone, headphones on, not knowing that she was walking into the jaws of death. A few seconds later, she lay on the ground, bleeding profusely. In a couple of minutes, she was dead, the phone too quiet, the one she was busy talking into while crossing the railway track only seconds ago.

Mistake this not for a scene out of a crime thriller. This is a gruesome true story, narrated by residents of West Mambalam who saw a careless college girl get hit by an approaching EMU at the railway level crossing near Rangarajapuram flyover, which has recorded over half-a-dozen deaths due to trespassing in little over a fortnight. One person each died on Monday and Tuesday. While the residents are getting used to witnessing horrors unfold before their eyes, the authorities have done little to prevent trespassing or death.

Pradeep, whose house overlooks the flyover and tracks and who has witnessed such incidents often, points out that there was a curve ahead. “The train coming out of Mambalam station towards Beach will not be visible to trespassers unless it gets close to the crossing. Numerous lives can be saved if only people are a little more cautious and wait for a few more seconds till the trains cross,” he said.

Mason Shanmugham, who oversees construction of the vehicular subway there, said, “I am here for a week now. I have already seen two people die plus a cow run over late Monday.” Hopefully, the casualty numbers could reduce once the subway Shanm­ugham is constructing gets over in a month. Only the outer walls at either end of the subway remain to be built, he added.

Expressing his inability to deploy RPF personnel at all such spots, senior divisional security commissioner S.R Gandhi told DC that they had put up warning notices, besides educating people about the dangers of trespassing. The government railway police station at Egmore, covering Beach to Palava­nth­angal and Beach to Taram­ani, records 25 to 30 casualties per month on the tracks. The numbers are unlikely to reduce unless people avoid trespassing recklessly.