Street plays to make people look before they cross railway tracks

To prevent incidents of train running over people, especially at unmanned railway crossings, Northern Railway’s Delhi division has decided to hold street plays for creating awareness among the residents living in close proximity to the rail tracks.

While street plays will be organised across all major train routes across the division, Shahadra-Shamli line has been chosen as the first stretch for holding them next month.

The initiative will begin at the Shahadra-Shamli stretch as it has the maximum number of unmanned crossings than any other single stretch across Delhi division.

“There are 69 unmanned crossings over the 90-km stretch. The initiative would be flagged off from December 15. The theatre groups would be performing street plays near the crossings and the colonies and slums located on the sides of the rail tracks,” a senior railway official said.

Officials cited carelessness on the part of the victims for several fatal accidents.
“Several accidents in the past have occurred just because of the carelessness of the victims. It is a common sight that people cross rail tracks while listening to music with their earphones on,” an official said.

“Some people were fatally hit by approaching trains as they could not hear the horn. Similarly, all motorists need to slow down at the time of crossing and check whether any train is approaching the unmanned crossing,” an official said.

While two people lost their lives on the Shahadra-Shamli stretch at an unmanned crossing. since April 1 this year, a total of 823 people died in accidents on rail tracks till September in the entire Delhi area. A total of 1,485 died on rail tracks in the area last year.