Hyderabad, June 11 -- The Monday morning deaths of commuters on the Mumbai suburban network were a not so common, freak accident, substantially due to the gap between two sets of tracks being less than the normal, and on a long curve. Though that technical aspect contributed to the ghastly event, it need not happen. The suburban commuter network operated by the Central and Western Railways, and the government, had a chance to set things right but they let it evaporate.

The moment of reckoning was the COVID times. The locals were restricted for use only by the essential service personnel because in overcrowded coaches, social distancing was impossible.

In normal peak times, between 12 to 16 persons are packed in a square metre of space. ...