Mumbai, Jan 31 (NIE): The Central Railway (CR) will soon implement the recommendations of a consultancy firm in the Thane-Kalwa section to prevent deaths on tracks.

The move comes after Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal recently directed the general managers (GMs) of both Western Railway and Central Railway to take a fresh look at solutions suggested in 2009 by consultancy firm Final Mile Consulting, whose recommendations have been implemented at the Wadala railway station.

Among the recommendations implemented at Wadala include putting up posters of a man crushed by a train, putting up whistle boards 150 metres away from accident-prone spots where motormen have to compulsorily blow the whistle and painting yellow stripes on tracks to give trespassers a sense of the speed of an approaching train. The implementation of the recommendations saw the number of deaths fall by 75 per cent.

According to data from the railway police commissionerate, every year nearly 3,000 deaths are recorded on railway tracks of both commuters and trespassers. More than 50 per cent of the deaths are of those crossing the tracks.

The study by Final Mile Consulting on trespassing showed that trespassing is a “non-conscious” activity that would be best tackled by non-conscious interventions. Equally, instead of trying to stop trespassing totally, the report suggested ways to minimise fatalities.

The 2009 report had pointed to a trespasser’s inability to judge the correct speed and distance of an approaching train, and said overconfidence and “status quo biases” also affect the trespasser’s behaviour.

CR’s chief public relation officer Sunil Udasi said they have constituted a team to look into more ways by which deaths on tracks could be reduced.

He said that five accident-prone spots between Thane and Kalwa have been selected and the recommendations would be implemented on this stretch.