'Over 1,600 passengers died on board trains in 3 years'

Over 1,600 passengers died on board trains in the past three years, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Gohain said 1,678 on board fatalities were reported in the last three years.

In all the cases, the bodies were handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP) as per procedures and families were provided all possible assistance, the minister said.

The Supreme Court in 2006 had directed AIIMS to form a committee and recommend medical facilities to be provided in trains and stations for emergency medical care to passengers.

It had also directed that oxygen cylinders be provided in all trains.

The minister said that all the recommendations of the committee have been implemented.

Under the directions of the committee as many as 88 life-saving equipment, medicines and injections are now be available on trains and at stations, replacing the basic first-aid box that is usually found on railway premises.

These include delivery kits, oxygen cylinders, laryngoscopes, catheters, syringes, tablets, splints, bandages of all shapes and sizes, ointments and even oxygen defibrillators, an official said.