India, July 29 -- Families of only 1,408 of the 26,547 people who died while travelling on Mumbai's suburban railway network in the past 10 years have been compensated. This was revealed in a Right to Information (RTI) query from Indian Railways by activist Godfrey Pimenta recently.

More than 70 lakh passengers travel by local trains - considered Mumbai's lifeline -- every day. The deaths are caused by overcrowding - as was the case on June 9 when two overcrowded trains passed one another near Mumbra station, leading to five people falling off and losing their lives -- or by passengers getting trapped in the gap between the platform and the train. Crossing tracks irresponsibly or stampede, such as the one on September 29, 2017, at the El...