A Demographic Profile of Railway Accidents Occuring in Khammam Region

Since pre independence era, Indian railways network across the country has shown a phenomenal development and exerted a strong impact over the transportation and economic development of the country in a positive way. The increase in Population of the country has led to an increase in the railway traffic which in turn has contributed to an increase in unnatural deaths due to railway mishaps. The incidence of deaths due to Railway accidents constitutes a significant group of transportation related morbidities and mortalities amounting to 7.6% [2008] of all the accidental deaths occurring in the country. In the light of the above, the present study was conducted to assess the impact of the railway traffic accidents occurring in the Khammam region of Andhra pradesh. The present study shows that males were predominantly involved in accidental as well as suicidal railway related deaths. Majority of the victims were in the age group of 30-39 yrs and belonged to Hindu religion. The exact identity in few of the cases could not be made out. The incidence of railway accidents was seen to be more during the day time and occurred usually within town limits. Most of the affected persons died on the spot due to the injuries that they sustained.