HC seeks railway’s response on proposal to convert 1 luggage compartment in Mumbai local trains for senior citizens

The PIL claimed that at least 50,000 senior citizens like Nair travel daily on suburban trains and during the peak hours, even younger people find it difficult to enter the compartments.

On Wednesday, advocate D P Singh, representing the Railway Board, said that the Board received suggestions from both the Central and Western Railway authorities who proposed to the board that one luggage compartment could be converted into a senior citizen compartment and the issue of cost and feasibility of the same is yet to be examined.

The court was told that as per internal communication within the railway department, there are four to five luggage compartments in the 12 or 15-car local trains.

Singh also said that as per proposal developed by Central Railway, there are six seats in the luggage compartment, which can be initially made available for senior citizens and additional seats can be made available by modification of the compartments if it is to be specially assigned for senior citizens.

The court was informed that the Central and Western Railway had thought of the said proposal as the survey to ascertain actual utilisation of the compartment showed that over 80 per cent of the passengers in the luggage compartment were unauthorised and are from the general category travellers and only 10 per cent ferry goods.

Therefore, setting aside one of the three to four luggage compartments for senior citizens will not be an issue for those holding vendor tickets. It was also found that the luggage compartments take away 6.18 per cent of the area in a 12-car train but carry only 0.32 percent of the passenger load. However, general class compartments occupy 71 per cent of the train area and carry 90 per cent of the commuters. Therefore, there is not much possibility of converting one of the general class compartments into a specialised one for senior citizens.

“With this background, these suggestions and feasibility are under consideration. Response of railway board to be placed on record. Matter to be placed on August 23,” the bench noted in its order.

In 2015, the High Court had directed the Indian Railways to consider providing a dedicated coach for senior citizens to ensure easy and safe access for them. The court had passed the direction while hearing a suo motu PIL initiated in 2009 after taking cognizance of a letter written to the then Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court by advocate A B Thakker.

Following this, the Railways provided 14 dedicated seats to the senior citizens travelling in the second-class compartment in every local train. “However, senior citizens are unable to avail the benefits of these reserved seats due to non-senior citizens occupying the same during peak hours,” Nair has claimed.