Central Railway built New Helipad to airlift victims in sites

Central Railway built New Helipad to airlift victims in sites

Mumbai: Central Railway (CR) has built a helipad to airlift accident victims from sites in proximity to Byculla’s Nirmal Park. It has also asked the state government for land for similar projects, as there are no medical facilities beyond Mumbai limits which forces passengers to travel to the city with serious injuries.

The proposal had been given two months ago after the issue of paucity of medical facilities emerged in the aftermath of the derailment of Diva-Sawantwadi express, in which 22 passengers died in May. It is yet to get a response.

CR sources said that since there are no facilities for airlifting passengers when major accidents take place. The state was given the proposal in order to show the feasibility of such helipads and photographs of the one at Nirmal Park have also been submitted to prove feasibility of the project.

CR general manager, Sunil Kumar Sood said, “We already have at least 16 to 17 helipads in the city which can be used for emergency situations, as we do not have hospitals beyond Mumbai or its suburbs where passenger trains run.”

He added, “We have shown the state government through our helipad in Nirmal Park that it can be done and are waiting for their response. Since we cannot have railway hospitals everywhere, we can at least have air-lift facilities that can transport individual with serious injuries on priority bases,” added Mr Sood.