CHENNAI: Southern Railway has registered 364 cases for footboard travel in the last four months in the city, but commuters want stronger action because students continue to do stunts and put their life at risk.
In the most recent incident three days ago, a 19-year-old boy who had climbed onto the window of a suburban train as it was speeding and was killed after a fall on Chennai-Tiruvallur route.
Railways had stepped up booking cases and has already booked 364 cases up to April and has collected a fine of ₹1.4lakh for footboard travelling in Chennai division. Last year, 890 cases were booked. But charging cases and collecting fines does not seem to work as students continue to do acrobatics on moving trains when there is no RPF presence on the station.
When there is RPF presence, they do the stunts when the train is running between stations. RPF personnel are posted only at major stations and trouble-prone stations, said a railway official.
Commuter associations say that strong action including arrests should be made to deter them from putting their lives at risk.
T Sadagopan, president, Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre, and a frequent commuter, said that the railways should find a way to identify and isolate these students who do the stunts. "The authorities should create a system by which they can be barred from obtaining season tickets or barred from travelling on trains," he added.
"Using the IPC to control them may not be fair. There should ideally be a separate law to handle such cases during suburban train travel. But the students should be clearly told that if charged by the police they may not get jobs due to poor conduct in the future."
K Baskar, a frequent commuter and former member of Divisional Rail Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) said the recent death of the boy, who hails from a poor family, has had no effect on the students.
"Many of the students have seen him fall after hitting a pole and have his photos and videos. But they continue their stunts. RPF should go to the colleges and show the videos on how the family of the victims suffer due to the loss. They should trace the families of students who have died and should describe how the accidents are affecting families. We have to shock them to make them realise the risks," he added.
A railway official said that RPF has been doing awareness programmes and has also been posting personnel on stations. "More cases will be charged," he added.
