Friends on Rails, a collective of passengers, has alleged that the escalator accident at Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station on Wednesday was due to negligence and Railways were trying to downplay the incident.

Friends on Rails secretary J. Lyons said in a statement that this was not the first time that the escalator malfunctioned. A similar incident had occurred on Tuesday as well. Following this, passengers had complained to the Railway Police Aid Post on the platform that the escalator was running in reverse. The only response was that the authorities concerned would be informed, Mr. Lyons said.

On Wednesday, the escalator malfunctioned again and it moved in reverse at great speed, throwing many passengers off balance. Even after some passengers were thrown down from the top, resulting in injuries to them, Railways were attempting to trivialise the incident, he alleged.

Had anyone’s hair or clothing got caught in the escalator mechanism, the resulting scenario would have been very tragic. This was not the first time that Railways had washed its hands of all responsibility in the face of danger. Railways had failed to take any action when vehicles parked in the paid parking facility at the Thrissur railway station were destroyed in a fire, the Friends on Rails alleged.

It said that Railways were carrying out repair work at several railway stations without adequate safety measures in place. It did not seem to have any control over the contract workers and there were no efforts to finish the platform excavation work or the construction of protective walls in a time-bound manner.

Passengers were left in a situation where their safety seemed to be solely their responsibility. Many minor accidents were going unreported and Railways seemed to be waiting for some major disaster to occur to take remedial action, the Friends on Rails accused.

Railways should take better and proactive steps to ensure the safety of passengers, it said.