Mumbai, May 15: The Central Railway (CR) has started compiling a comprehensive database of all ambulance services in the city to use in case of emergencies. The CR has also offered ambulances free parking space on the premise of its suburban stations in Mumbai.
“We have requested ambulance services in this city to approach us and get themselves listed with a station which they can approach in the fastest possible time. It will help us open avenues and give more options for ambulance services in a given locality and strengthen our database,” a senior divisional railway official said.
“We will also pay the ambulance service a fee for their services as per the railway policy,” he said. More than 4,000 commuters die on the crowded suburban railway every year due to various reasons, including trespassing, falling from trains or other such accidental deaths.
Keeping an ambulance ready at railway stations will speed up the journey of transporting the injured from the accident site to the hospital, reducing the chances of fatalities. CR spokesperson S.C. Mudgerikar confirmed the development.
Commuter activist Samir Zaveri filed a petition in the Mumbai High Court in 2009, urging the railways to take measures for commuter deaths in the railway premises.
—-Agencies