BENGALURU: Irresponsible pulling of alarm chains by passengers inside trains, largely to ensure a quick halt in the vicinity of their homes is messing up schedules of trains. A senior railway official said that of late there has been a surge in the number of cases of chain pulling for frivolous reasons. While there have been 405 instances of chain pulling in 2018, just the first three months of 2019 have already registered 144 such instances. It is double that of the corresponding period last year (January to March 2018) when 73 such instances were recorded.
“It takes anywhere between 5 minutes and 10 minutes for the train to depart again after a complete halt. At least five to six trains get delayed before the punctuality of trains along the route get back to normalcy again,” he added.
What is really annoying is that there are no genuine emergencies in 95% of the cases, a top RPF cop said. “Just to avoid travelling all the way back after alighting at the main stations, they pull the chain. Some of them rush before the cops or railway officials reach the spot and escape. A good number too get caught,” the cop said.
In such cases a fine of Rs 500 is imposed. Another reason often given for pulling the chain is that of a family reaching the station late. One member in the family makes a dash and boards the train. “The individual pulls the chain to ensure the rest can catch up!”
“It needs to be used only for health-related emergency inside a coach, someone falling off the train or if a passenger has spotted a suspicious object inside a train or if a senior citizen is unable to alight or board the train too, it could be made use of by others,” he elaborated.