More than 52,300 persons died on Mumbai’s suburban train network in the last nearly 20 years, the Railways informed the Bombay High Court on Wednesday, Live Law reported.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya was hearing a plea regarding the high fatality rate among local train commuters in Mumbai.

The petitioner, Yatin Jadhav, had pointed out several problems that lead to deaths on the suburban train network.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Western Railway and the Central Railway filed affidavits on directions the court had issued in June. The two railway zones operate local trains in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Between 2005 and June 2024, more than 23,000 persons died on the routes operated by the Western Railway, according to The Indian Express. More than 29,300 were killed between 2009 and June 2024 on lines operated by the Central Railway.

The Western Railway informed the court that the number of fatalities had reduced in recent years, according to India Today. While there were 1,084 deaths and 1,517 injuries in 2016, 936 persons had died and 984 were injured in 2023.

The administration is sensitive towards each incident of injury and death, but its efforts would not be fruitful until it receives better cooperation from the passengers, India Today quoted Santosh Kumar Singh Rathore, the Western Railway’s senior divisional security commissioner, as saying in the affidavit.

It added that more than 100% of the train capacity is already utilised and that there is no scope to introduce any additional services.

The Central Railway informed the court that there is a problem of rampant trespassing on the tracks, reported India Today.

With slums too close to the railway tracks, the risk of deaths is high, Shashi Bhushan, the additional divisional railway manager (administration) of Central Railway’s Mumbai division, told the court.

In the last 15 years, the number of deaths has reduced while the passenger carrying capacity of the railway network has increased, the Central Railways said.

In 2009, there were 1,782 deaths and 1,614 persons were injured. These numbers came down to 1,221 deaths and 938 injuries in 2023, the Central Railway said.

At the June hearing, the court directed the general managers of the two railway zones to look into the problem and sought affidavits on the measures taken to avoid such accidents, reported The Indian Express.