Mumbai, July 10: Of Bandra station’s three entrances, only one has a metal detector. At Andheri, the CCTVs face the wrong direction.

A year after the 7/11 blasts, nothing has changed at Mumbai’s railway stations that 6 million-odd commuters use every weekday. Railway police say they are depending on chance and vigilant commuters to prevent another terror strike.

“The security was intense for a month or two after the blasts. There were regular drills at peak office hours that served merely to inconvenience passengers,” said Deepak Patel, a daily commuter. “There were bizarre X-ray machines that no one knew how to handle. Soon, it all stopped and life moved on.”

The railways, mindful that the tragedy’s first anniversary was approaching, hasn’t been able to put up even a show of security. The western line, targeted by the militants last year, has security posts at every station but no cops were manning them.

Commuters rushed past the metal detectors. “No one uses them unless they are visiting Mumbai for the first time,” said Shalaka Patil, a student who commutes daily.

The Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force are as short of staff and equipment as they were on July 11 last year.

“Of our 3,000 personnel, 1,500 physically provide security for 6 million people. They work 12-14 hour shifts and are expected to investigate petty crimes and perform various administrative functions as well. How can they patrol the platforms round the clock?” said the special inspector-general of police (railways), A.K. Sharma.

What about explosives vapour detectors? “We rely on our 41 sniffer dogs; they are more efficient than explosives detectors,” said the central railway chief security commissioner, B.S. Sidhu.

Trial delay

The police claimed to have solved the case in September, arrested 13 people and in November, brought the 10,000-page chargesheet to court in a truck. But the charges haven’t yet been framed after three postponements and the trial is yet to begin.

The masterminds — allegedly from the Lashkar-e-Toiba and Students’ Islamic Movement of India — are still at large. The investigators had spoken of “pressure-cooker bombs” but the chargesheet is silent on them.