BENGALURU: Two Metro commuters trespassed on the Metro rail tracks at the Mahakavi Kuvempu Road metro station on Saturday. Their action impacted train services on the Green Line for 10 minutes on Saturday, and the duo was booked under the Metro Act.
While incidents involving cats, dogs, birds and even peacocks walking across Metro tracks have occurred in the past, public walking across the rail tracks is rare as the home guards or BMRCL staffers do not permit anyone to cross the cautionary yellow line on the edge of the platform. The Third Rail, which supplies 750 V Direct Current Voltage, to power Metro trains runs parallel to the tracks across the Metro network and no one is allowed near it for safety reasons.
Kuvempu Road station lies between Srirampura and Rajajinagar Metro stations. “The incident happened on Saturday morning. The two passengers hail from a rural area and it was their first Metro trip. Since they wanted to cross over to the opposite platform for their train, they decided to jump down the platform they were standing on and cross over the tracks,” Chief Public Relations Officer, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited, B L Yashwanth Chavan said.
“As soon as their attempt to cross the tracks was spotted by our staff, they activated the Emergency Trip System bringing operations to a halt, he said. “The operations at this station was stopped for 10 minutes and four trains passing through the station suffered delays,” Chavan said. The duo was booked under Section (64) of the Metro Safety Act. They were fined Rs 250 each and let off after a warning.