MUMBAI: More than 27,000 commuters died in railway accidents in Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR), almost equal to the population of Mussoorie in Uttarakhand, in nearly 10 years, from January 2010 to September 2019. Almost 85% of casualties were male. At least 18,000 were injured in that period, information gleaned under RTI revealed.The plea, filed by activist Nitin Gaikwad, showed that Kalyan Government Railway Police (GRP) chowky, covering Kalyan-Kasara and Kalyan-Badlapur belts, recorded most casualties. Nearly 4,000 commuters were killed, of which 3,400 were men. Kurla GRP, which covers Kurla to Mulund stations and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, had the second most casualties (over 2,900).The plea showed that on Western Railway, Borivli GRP chowky, which covers stations between Dahisar and Ram Mandir, recorded most casualties (over 2,800) in that period.“A large number of former Mumbaikars have moved to Kalyan and Badlapur, trading small homes in the city for spacious apartments and bungalows here. While the population in this belt has increased enormously, services have not in the same proportion,” said Rajesh Ghanghav of Kalyan-Kasara-Karjat Railway Passengers’ Association. After the Elphinstone bridge stampede, the Railways conducted a survey and started building multiple FOBs at stations. “Yet, stations like Neral and Khadavli have only one FOB each. The difference between two CSMT-bound services from Kasara is an hour. Commuters naturally do not want to miss a train and take dangerous shortcuts. The priority should be increasing services for this section,” said Ghanghav.A Central Railway spokesperson said they have major plans to reduce accidental deaths and injuries, which include building 24 FOBs, 101 escalators, 65 lifts, improving 10 platform surfaces and commissioning the fifth line between Thane-Diva to reduce congestion. “The Railways must understand commuters’ requirements before building FOBs. They must study where commuters illegally cross tracks and build FOBs there. The Railways is setting up FOBs and escalators where they or their contractors find it feasible. This will not prevent deaths,” said activist Subhash Gupta. He added that the work of building boundary walls along tracks and putting up fences between two platforms is incomplete, which contribute to casualties.Churchgate GRP had the least casualties: Less than 500. The reason could be that it covers few stations, from Churchgate to Grant Road.“A level-crossing in Jogeshwari was one location where many commuters lost lives while crossing tracks. After we closed it and built an FOB there, deaths came down to zero,” said a WR spokesperson. But while WR has been patting itself on the back over closing the levelcrossing, no FOB has been built to connect the new Jogeshwari harbour platform and existing WR platform, which is forcing even women, children and senior citizens to walk on tracks.