15 killed in dark day for Mumbai daily train commute

Fifteen people were killed in separate train accidents in a single day in Mumbai, police said yesterday. Some of the victims were hit while trying to cross the tracks illegally while others fell from packed trains on Thursday, police spokesman S.R. Gandhi said.

At least 13 others suffered injuries, with police blaming the deaths on people attempting to take short cuts in the monsoon rains battering India’s financial capital.

“Too many people prefer to take shortcuts,” said Gandhi. About 7.5 million passengers use the overcrowded trains daily on Mumbai’s colonial-era rail network, a lifeline for the city’s 20 million residents.