New Delhi: Alarmed over the spate of accidents in recent times, Indian Railways was considering the use of helicopters in airlifting passengers injured during major railway accidents.

Talks are on with the Defence Ministry to rope in helicopters to rush injured passengers in need of urgent medical aid to a hospital, Minister of State for Railways B Dattatreya told reporters while discussing a white paper on railway safety presented in Parliament.

Replying to a query that often lot of precious time was wasted in arranging for a relief train to reach the spot of accident and to carry injured passengers to a hospital, he said if the plan to incorporate helicopters in the rescue and relief plan worked, more lives could be saved and the injured could be provided quick medical aid.

Central Railway General Manager, S P Jain, said efforts were on in Mumbai to tie up with a local NGO (Non-Government Organisation) to provide private ambulance service to carry those run over by trains at local stations.

The railways were chalking out a plan to set up a control room, which would be run by the NGO.

In case of a passenger being run over by a train, the station master would inform the RPF (Railway Protection Force) control room, which would get in touch with the NGO control room. The NGO would then contact its local resource persons to provide ambulance and other aid to move the victim, a senior official said.

Currently, it was not feasible for railways to deploy an ambulance at every station due to economic reasons. Hence, it was necessary to rope in NGOs, he said.

PTI