Title - Central Railway unspools safety steps to check robberies

PUNE: Sunday's robbery where a gang robbed seven women travelling by Hutatma Express of their gold and cash worth Rs 2. 86 lakh has spurred the Solapur division of the Central Railway to step up safety measures.

Passengers are robbed when trains halt at intermediate stations between Jinti Road and Davalas for other trains to cross. The Railways are planning to avoid halting of an express train on this stretch, senior divisional commercial manager Sushil Gaikwad of Solapur division told TOI.

"We will explore how this plan can be implemented and whether it will have any impact on the schedule of these trains," he said.

The trains have to stop at intermediate stations because the stretch between Bhigwan and Mohol stations is a single-line track. On this track, a 50-km section between Jinti Road and Davalas, is where most robberies have taken place. There are six stations between Jinti Road and Davalas.

The Bhigwan-Mohol route comes under the Pune-Solapur section of the Central Railway. It is one of the busiest rail routes in the country as south-bound trains from Mumbai and Pune go via Solapur.

The Railways also plans to keep the stations illuminated throughout the night to prevent such incidents. "The Railways have already installed floodlights at all the intermediate stations which are kept on for about 20 minutes before the arrival of the trains. They are switched off later. However, from now onwards, we have planned to keep the floodlights working till early morning," he said.

Railway officials said that doubling of the tracks between Bhigwan and Mohol has been proposed. The total length of the route is 127 km. Meanwhile, the Railways have planned to provide police security personnel in coaches at both ends of the trains.

Gaikwad said that the police have planned massive combing operations in the area and are working on an action-plan to prevent incidents of dacoities on trains.

Additional divisional railway manager Pune division, A K Gupta said directions have been issued to the police to curb the incidents. "The issue was discussed at the divisional officers' meeting on Monday in the wake of the robbery incident on Sunday night," he said.

Railway commuters' groups want measures to curb incidents of dacoities. Gulamali Bhaldar of the Chinchwad Pravasi Sangh said closed circuit television cameras at stations and on trains can be used to curb such incidents.