WR, CR file affidavits in high court, blaming accidents on overcrowding, impatient passengers and high bus fares, while trying to portray deadly gap traps as unavoidable.Western Railway and Central Railway yesterday filed separate affidavits in the Bombay High Court, in which they blamed the spate of passenger accidents on everything but the gap between train and platform. Between them, they blamed the accidents on overcrowding, impatient passengers and, bizzarely, high bus fares. Neither affidavit made any commitment to increase the height of the platforms; instead, they focussed on justifying the gap traps.The affidavits were filed after the high court took suo motu cognisance of Mumbai Mirror’s ‘Gap Trap’ campaign, which revealed how the wide and variable gaps between platforms and trains were responsible for a number of fatal and non-fatal accidents.However, the affidavit filed by L Nageswara Rao, senior divisional engineer, Western Railway, reads, “Incidents in platform area are unfortunately occurring due to passengers trying to alight/board the moving train and attempting to cross the tracks in front of moving trains.”The one filed by U P Singh, his counterpart in the Central Railway, claims that overcrowding is the main problem, which can be resolved with the help of BEST buses.A detailed “submission on behalf of the General Manager” attached to this affidavit reads, “BEST fares are about 6 to 7 times higher than that of the railways, and most buses are plying half-full. It is in fairness of things that State Government runs these buses judicially on the most heavily loaded suburban sections so as to earn more as well as help commuters more.”It goes on to suggest that BEST bus fares be reduced and brought on par with train fares - as they are in Kolkata -so that “at least people who are not in a hurry or not feeling well may choose to go by BEST bus”.It compares the numbers of deaths and injuries in Mumbai, New Delhi, Howrah-I, Howrah-II and Sealdah, and concludes that there are fewer deaths and injuries in Howrah and Sealdah because of the “option of affordable bus journey”.The CR affidavit also seeks eight weeks to make a detailed presentation before the court as the issue is “highly technical”.Apart from blaming other factors, the affidavits also seek to justify gap traps. One of the main reasons cited in both affidavits is that train traffic in Mumbai is a mix of suburban and long-distance trains. They claim that long-distance trains are narrower than suburban ones. Because of this, they say, long-distance trains leave a gap between platform and footboard, while local trains overlap the platform.Another reason cited for the gaps is Mumbai’s monsoon. According to the affidavits, the bases of train tracks are not rigid surfaces, offering some elasticity. However, during the monsoon, the soil under them sinks, which requires that the height of the tracks or platforms be raised by a few millimetres to prevent trains from scraping platforms. They also blame the gaps on the fact that many stations are curved, while the rakes are essentially straight.The case will come up for hearing again today.