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Journalism of Courage
AFTER SUCCESSFULLY reducing trespassing accidents on a 5-km stretch between Thane and Kalwa, using three “interventions” based on behavioural economics and cognitive neurology, the Central Railway (CR) is all set to implement these methods at 50 more locations in Mumbai.
In March, the CR painted its tracks yellow on eight trespassing points, urged train pilots to give staccato horns and set up a visual poster earmarking it as a danger spot, as suggested by a consultancy, Final Miles.
In the next nine months, between March and November, there was a 44 per cent drop in deaths from trespassing on this stretch, with 27 deaths between March and August as against 88 between January and November last year.
Encouraged by these results, the CR is all set to implement these methods at 50 other locations over the next two months. It is also working out on formulating a formal agreement between Final Miles and railway administration for consistent implementation.
“It will not be fair to say only these interventions helped in reducing the number of deaths but they definitely had an impact. Based on this, we would like to implement them at other locations where adequate infrastructure is still at the planning stages,” said K K Aasharf, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner for Railway Protection Force on the CR.
While there was a drop of about 10 per cent in the number of deaths from trespassing, the drop was much higher on spots where these interventions were made. Another official from the CR said, “We are working towards implementing these measures where people not only trespass but also walk parallel to the tracks. There are such locations in Mankhurd, Kalyan and several others.”
According to Biju Dominic, CEO of Final Miles, based on the list of the spots, his teams will visit each location to understand the cause of trespassing.
“At Thakurli, people walk along the tracks and then trespass to visit a temple. At some other location it’s for defecating on the other side of the tracks. But on spots where people walk along the tracks, our interventions will be implemented at a prolonged stretch,” Dominic said.
He added that these interventions will be carried at all locations on the CR but the top 50 will be included in the first phase on priority. “We will start the study within two weeks of the spots being finalised and soon after, implementation will be started,” Dominic said.
He added that he was sure that these interventions will reduce deaths by making a trespasser “subconsciously aware” of the risks of trespassing.
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