Blog: Saving a few hours ?

What is more important :

saving a few hours or saving a few years ?

Here is the context :

* Delhi-Mumbai train track is 1384 km long

* Of this , some 500 km passes through urban area where people / animal can cross

the tracks

* This interference , forces the trains to slow down ( from its permissible speed of 130

km / hr )

* Govt wants the trains to run at speed of 160 km / hr

* To enable this , government has approved construction of 500 km long boundary

Walls

* The plan will cost Rs 500 crore

* Railways is working on a plan to implement a similar model on Delhi-Kolkata route

Rs 500 crores to save ( may be ) 500 hours of travel time annually ?

Contrast this with following situation :

* Mumbai suburban ( local ) train tracks , span 465 km ( as per Wikipedia )

* As per the statistics provided under the RTI query, apart from 6,989

passengers who died after falling from trains, 22,289 passengers succumbed

while crossing the tracks ( trespassing ) , during past 10 years

Why cannot Railway consider constructing boundary walls on both sides of Mumbai local tracks , in order to save 2200 lives every year ?

If Railway do not have the money , Maharashtra Government should provide the funds

As for a cheaper and faster ( but almost equally effective ) solution , I have sent following emails to the Railway Minister :

Tuesday, 17 April 2018