A retired electrician from the Indian Railways, Shivdayal Sharma, died in Alwar, Rajasthan, after a cow fell on him while he was relieving himself on the railway tracks. The incident occurred in the jurisdiction of Aravali Vihar police station on Wednesday morning, and Shivdayal's body was sent for post-mortem to the district hospital. This unfortunate incident has brought to light the recurring issue of cattle straying onto railway tracks and causing accidents involving the semi-high-speed Vande Bharat trains.
Cattle causing accidents on Vande Bharat trains
The Vande Bharat trains, which run at a speed of approximately 130-160 kmph, have had multiple run-ins with cattle on various routes, with the highest number of accidents reported from the Mumbai-Gujarat stretch. Within days of its launch, the Mumbai-Gandhinagar Vande Bharat Superfast Express train suffered minor damage after colliding with cattle on October 6. The next day, the same train sustained minor damage to its nose panel after hitting a cow near Anand station in Gujarat. On October 29, the train had a run-over with a cow near Atul in Gujarat's Valsad.
Railways Minister's take on the issue
Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav has acknowledged the issue of cattle straying onto railway tracks and causing accidents involving Vande Bharat trains. He stated that such collisions are unavoidable, and this has been kept in mind while designing the trains. However, the Western Railways has decided to put metal fencing along the over 620km-long Mumbai-Ahmedabad trunk route to prevent animals from straying onto the tracks and causing accidents.
