Amputee group in India asks court to mandate safer train platforms

From the Indian Express:

In an effort to help differently-abled to have a comfortable railway journey, city-based Amputee Association of India (AAI), an NGO, has decided to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court for a standard platform across the country.

According to AAI, uneven construction of railway platforms is one of the major reasons behind accidents on rail tracks. Dr Veerendra Shandilya, Orthotist and Prosthetist and the president of AAI, said: “We have over 500 amputees registered with us and over 60 per cent of them have lost their body parts in train mishaps.”

He added the accidents were not due to the carelessness of the commuters, but because of the faulty platform construction. “We want the Railways authorities to have guidelines set for the construction of platforms, which should be in level with the train floor just as it is in the metro rails,” said Dr Shandilya.

He added that they had spoken to the Railways authorities, but “we did not get any assuring response”.

D K Chachondia, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Western Railway, said they already maintain a standard level for platform construction.

“But if there are certain areas where the disparity has been noticed, we would certainly check the technicalities of the construction,” he said, adding, “However, the distance maintained between the platform and the train floor is not completely wrong. Sometimes, accidents take place due to the carelessness of passengers.”

Pointing out that special coaches are provided for physically challenged people, he said, “We would look into the ways to better the situation.”