A 22-year-old commuter, who was on his way to office on the Barrackpur local train, fell to his death at Titagarh railway station on a day when several suburban trains were crammed owing to maintenance work at the bustling Sealdah station in Kolkata.
The deceased, Mohammad Ali Hasan, was an office worker in Kolkata’s Sector 5 area. He boarded the 8.32 am overcrowded train from Barrackpur to reach office in the city but fell to his death soon after getting onto the packed train.
In a press briefing on Friday, Chief Public Relations Officer for Eastern Railway Kausik Mitra said there has been a rumour going on that all trains to and from Sealdah station had been cancelled but that is not true. He also said some train services have been affected but that this was to ensure the train lines function better in future from July onwards.
Platform extension work
All local trains to and from Sealdah have been overcrowded since Friday morning and are likely to stay so till June 10. The series of events unfolded after nearly 150 trains out of over 800 were cancelled or short-terminated due to maintenance work at Sealdah station for these three days. Platforms 1-5 are closed during these days for platform extension work.
Sealdah station is the lifeline of daily commuters coming from the suburbs into the city for work. Many trains from Naihati, Ranaghat, Hasnabad, Barasat, Bangaon and Krishnanagar will remain suspended. These trains ferry over seven lakh people daily, according to railway officials. Thousands have been affected due to the disruption in services.
Nripen Malo, a 48-year-old office peon in Kolkata and a daily commuter from Ranaghat to Sealdah, said: “We travelled like cattle today. Commuters from four trains were stuffed inside one train. One young man fell down at Titagarh station in front of my eyes. Thankfully, he did not die, but he was only injured because the train was slow.” He also mentioned the office journey generally takes him one hour but that it took him nearly two hours to reach the city on Friday.
Waiting time goes up
The previous train departure times were at intervals of 5-7 minutes. But a press release published by the Eastern Railway on June 5 said the trains will operate at 12-15 minute intervals, which has doubled the waiting time for commuters.