Mumbai: Thursday was a black day for the city’s lifeline with 18 commuters being killed, the highest number of rail deaths the city has witnessed in a single day in recent times. Sixteen others were injured. Over 2,000 commuters have lost their lives in railway accidents between January and August this year. Most casualties have been a result of track crossing.A majority of deaths on Thursday were reported at the Vasai GRP outpost, which comprises Mira Road to Vaitarna stations. Five people were killed in this belt, two of whom couldn’t be identified. One of those killed was a female traveller. The GRP has started the practice of putting up mugshots of unknown rail accident victims on a large signboard at key stations to enable their identification. The Kalyan GRP outpost recorded the second highest number of casualties on Thursday. Three people were killed—one of them a female traveller—in the section which comprises Kalyan to Kasara stations on one line and Kalyan to Badlapur stations on the other. The highest number of commuters injured (three) were also reported at the Vasai GRP outpost.Activists and security officials said there’s a pressing need for additional services as well as better infrastructure on the fringes of a city where population has expanded rapidly. “A very large number of people beyond Kalyan on CR and beyond Dahisar on WR commute to south Mumbai every day for work. They do not have any alternate option for commuting other than trains. For this reason, if the railway schedule on the fringes of the city gets disrupted, it snowballs into a law-and-order situation,” said an IPS officer.“An increasing number of colonies are springing up adjacent to railway tracks. Residents have to cross from from east to west several times a day for work but there are few bridges offering such connectivity. The railways have communicated with the BMC in this regard. Until more east-west bridges come up, people will continue to create gaps in compound walls to cross over,” said a railway official. Giving an example of insufficient infrastructure, a GRP official explained how foot-over-bridges at Titwala and Badlapur stations are narrow. “Titwala station has only one FOB and it’s situated in the centre. It serves no purpose to people reaching the platform from either end. Nobody wants to miss a train so they prefer crossing tracks than walking up to the bridge,” the official said.Activists added sometimes commuters are also to blame. “At Kalwa station, people bend down and hop through a ditch to get across iron separators between two platforms, despite there being an FOB. Then there are instances of youngsters putting on headphones and walking dangerously close to running locals, unable to hear the motorman honking. There is also a need of self-discipline,” said an activist.