BENGALURU: A retired engineer, whose brother sustained injuries after tripping on the uneven Platform 7 of KSR Railway Station when rushing to board a train two years ago, finally succeeded in his objective to ensure that other passengers do not meet a similar fate. The platform is elevated in the middle and some people in a hurry do not notice this and stumble.
He had to reach out to the Prime Minister’s Office and draw their attention to the danger the drop in platform level posed to public safety to ensure the issue was taken seriously. A top official of the Bengaluru Railway Division had given a written assurance last week (July 4) that a ramp will be built here.
J Anil Kumar, retired engineer, told TNIE, “My brother Suresh Kumar had a major fall on Platform 7 when he was walking quickly towards the train to board it. The platform’s level just drops unexpectedly when you are walking. It is really dangerous as people keep watching the train they need to board and do not look down. I got to know that a number of people have tripped at this spot. In order to ensure that others do not meet with a similar fate, I have been pursuing the matter with Railways.”
Kumar had repeatedly contacted the ‘RailMadad’, a grievance redressal system run by the Railways earlier, but got no satisfactory response.
He added that the issue was not present in any other platform. Following his previous complaint with the Division, the Railways agreed to put up reflector stickers here so that the uneven nature of the platform gets noticed. They later put up small aluminium barricades to caution the public.
The former engineer visited the railway station three weeks ago and was shocked that the issue persisted. “I reached out to the PMO through ‘CPGRAMS’ and explained the issue. It got attention immediately. I received a letter from the Senior Divisional Engineer (co-ordination), West, Bengaluru Division, on July 4 that a ramp will be created here to ensure public safety.”
A senior railway official told TNIE that due to technical reasons, the specific platform has an elevation in the middle. “It is not a construction flaw. It is done across some railway stations and is too technical for me to explain. However, we will build a ramp shortly as a safety measure for passengers,” he said.