The foot over bridge at Hoodi Railway Station, which was meant to be built by January, is still not operational, putting the lives of thousands of people who use the station for their daily commute at risk.
The Hoodi Railway Station, near Whitefield, was inaugurated in September 2017 after MP PC Mohan provided funds to build the station from the MP Local Area Development Fund in 2016.
The development came as a relief for thousands of people residing in the IT corridor around Whitefield, as the area had become a commuter's nightmare.
An additional Rs 1.12 crore was to be granted for the South Western Railways to construct a foot over bridge to facilitate people to cross the tracks, within four months of the station being constructed. However, almost 9 months later, commuters are still waiting for the foot over bridge.
Many users of the station are currently forced to walk across the tracks to change platforms. Sanjeev Dyamannavar, an activist, said, "The number of people commuting via Hoodi station has shot up in the past couple of months. Residential areas are also developing all along the railway tracks. A lot of people have no other choice but to cross the tracks to reach the other side.”
He expressed hope that the over bridge would be constructed soon.
Satyappa, a railway police official at Cantonment Railway Station, under which Hoodi station falls, confirmed that the number of accidents in the area near Hoodi was a cause for concern.
"The number of trains has increased and the speed of the trains are also faster now. We have written several letters to the Divisional Railway Manager asking for a foot over bridge at Hoodi Station because it is an area where several deaths have happened," he said.
The most recent incident occurred on 25 June, when a six-year-old girl was killed trying to cross the tracks near the station.
He further revealed that there were no foot over bridges in the stretch of railway track from Whitefield Station to Krishnarajapuram Station.
"There is no facility to cross the track in this stretch and it is something that needs addressing after the bridge at Hoodi Station is built. In addition, compound walls need to be built along the track and a police outpost to stop people from encroaching on it," he added.
Satyappa believes it will take two months before the foot over bridge at Hoodi Station is operational. "The structure was completed in April and we are hopeful that it will be functional in the next couple of months," he said
A Government Railway Police in 2017 revealed that 633 people died in 2017 in incidents on railway tracks in Bengaluru. Railway police officials in the city revealed that many of the incidents were cases of suicide, but admit that a sizable number of incidents were accidents too. Among the fatalities reported last year, 270 of them occurred while crossing tracks. The number accounts for almost 42% of all deaths due to incidents on railway tracks.
Strengthening the suburban railway network figured in the Central budget this year with Rs 6,000 crore earmarked for it, but railway officials and the police in the city believe that safety measures should keep pace with the investment in the railway system.
"If you take away the number of people who committed suicide and others who fell off trains, you will find a lot of people were killed while crossing the tracks. This happens mainly because people underestimate the speed of the train and are sometimes caught trying to walk over multiple tracks," said Biravar, a railway police official at Yashwanthpur Railway Station.