Combating Stone Pelting on Trains: Challenges, Impact and RPF’s Strategic Response

Admin

“A wanton act by irresponsible person” – Theodore Roosevelt US President after stone pelting on his train in 1905

Alok Bohra, PCSC/ECoR

Challenges

Stone-pelting on the trains has been a serious security challenge since the opening of railways across the global railway network. #IndianRailways being no exception. The fourth largest open railway system with more than 1.3 lakh track length operating more than 13000 trains covering more than 7000 stations and carrying about 8.5 billion passengers has been vulnerable to all kinds of vandalism. No wonder, the protection of the railway #Property, #Passengers and their #Belongings have always been a work in progress.

Apropos the #RailwayBoard Security directorate data 3901 stone pelting incidents on trains were reported, 3391 cases registered and 1140 persons apprehended in 2024. These include 741 attacks on Vande Bharat trains with arrest of 228 persons. Therefore, overall average 325 cases reported per month in such a mammoth railway security network (0.2167 cases per kilometer track length). This is a testimony to humongous #Vigilance kept up by the Railway enforcement agencies. The #TeamRPF in the #EastCoastRailway during 2024 has been very proactive in the registration of the cases and detection. 30 incidents reported of the stone battery on the Vande Bharat rakes with the arrest of 36 persons. 85 incidents were reported on the other trains with apprehension of 65 persons.

More than 0.10 percent of the #Railway-land has been under #encroachments breeding a critical nuisance in these track adjoining dwellings with open access to movement alongside railroad and stone’s-throw-away perennial free ammunition supply (ballast/garbage objects) make a deadly play of a cost free sport for deviated juveniles mostly aged between 8 to 16 years.

The intent could vary between cheap thrill, venting out frustrations by have nots, drug addicts, drunken elements, vested motivated protests, vagabonds, homeless, lumpens, persecution mania, mental illness, social media influencing, the bet to hit targets, malicious eco-system to target Indian Railways assets and an agitated sadistic human impulse to achieve something in a deprived milieu. The “revolutions” ironically have fuelled such delinquency.

Moreover, the #communal hatred after Independence has instigated brutally organised stone assaults on railway passengers. The anti-Sikh riots 1984, the Mumbai riots of 1992, the Sabarmati Express stone pelting before setting the coaches on fire in February 2002 and the Mumbai protests on #Rohingyas in 2012 are some of the spinechilling examples. The rock-throwing incidents on the Vande Bharat trains have cost more than crore rupees in the repairs and also been causing scaring disorientation and panic during journey.

Impact

The litho-lobbing malaise aiming at a loco pilot driving a rolling stock has an accidental causality. This could result in casualties, trauma, damage and disruptions to the train services, fear psychosis, sensationalism, aggravating the law and order besides drain on the maintenance resources, social unrest, trust deficit, affecting financial health of the stakeholders, endangering the safety, degrading customer quality, compromising punctuality, creeping inefficiency, redirecting the precious police, emergency, medical workers and equipment.

Strategic response

The strategic response has to be multipronged. The lack of omnipresence of the security staff at each location makes the four gate access control (#RCC boundary wall, #AFC gates, #Platform screen doors and automatic closed door rakes) sine qua non in protection from such dastardly acts. The rakes of Tejas, Vande Bharat, AC local trains and more such class of trains have been made to enhance the #Safety features.

Our #PrimeMinister Shri #NarendraModi has been relentlessly pursuing the vision of an innovative railway enterprise with increased budgetary allocation to railway infrastructure. The Minister for Railways Shri #AshwiniVaishnaw has been toiling to build a world class passenger-friendly railway network. Our responsibility to transform should lead to a proactive chain reaction. This calls for a sincerity of purpose and disciplined action on processes ushering productive assets for a Viksit Bharat.

Hence, the core action to obliterate the opportunity of an offender must be optimised with the automatic closure of doors and sealed windows having toughened laminated bandit glass shield design with the stone proof polymer technology in the AC coaches. The iron mesh-designed windows in the Mumbai suburban local trains could be gradually installed in the other passenger trains.

Trespass proof construction plan in laying tracks stations and the station development schemes have been enforcing the station structure for #CRB (Claims, Railways and Body) protection.

The omnipresent and omnipotent installation of CCTV network in the trains, stations and the sections ensure 360 degree surveillance. Many cases of stone pelting have been detected by RPF with the #CCTV installed inside the #VandeBharat trains.

Hence, #RPF/#ECoR has pioneered the installation of solar powered CCTV cameras in some of the mapped sections. The deployment of drones by RPF for penetrative surveillance makes a better security sense to zoom in and swoop on the crime-infested patches.

Human surveillance with pinpointed mapping of the affected areas, intelligence gathering, quick response teams, profiling the risky sectors, coordination with police and #GRP, community engagement, effective patrolling, passenger awareness operations and drives, sensitization, media blitzkrieg, etc., have been resorted to by RPF.

However, these measures cannot wring water out of a stone in a criminality written in stone. So we should leave no stone unturned to endeavor the integration of disadvantaged groups with effective schooling, meaningful and positive engagements, social entrepreneurship for the residents of sub -human localities adjoining railway tracks and their rehabilitation by the local governments make the solid difference in substantial reduction of such crimes. At the same time the incorrigible offenders must be put through the penal consequences.

  • The section 152 of the Railways Act enshrines deterrent penalty against the malicious acts of stone pelting on trains and ensures life imprisonment or jail term extending up to ten years.
  • Section 153 of the Railways Act could be amended by inserting the provision to impose fine, recover the loss and compensation payment by the stone pelting perpetrator. Geo tagging of defaulters with psychological monitoring could boost prevention.

The fundamental duty of safeguarding the public property should be made enforceable. As Peter Drucker observed, “Institutions, systems, policies eventually outlive themselves, as do products, processes and services. They do it when they accomplish their objectives and they do it when they fail to achieve their objectives”.

Views are personal