Please stop pulling the chain, railway officials beg commuters

Passengers board a train from Mumbai Central station. File pic

Missed trains, pulling the chain for someone waiting on the wrong platform, boarding the wrong train, being on train as it leaves while seeing off relatives and friends, and mystery chain pulling are the top five excuses for pulling alarm chains on trains leading to delays in Mumbai division of the Central Railway. The authorities have urged passengers to not pull the alarm chain for such reasons as they lead to delay.

Other reasons included sleeping passengers, luggage left behind, quarrels among passengers, medical issues, wrong display of coach position and even forgotten mobile phones and tickets inside trains.

An analysis of chain pulling on trains in Mumbai revealed that Central Railway, during the current calendar year from January to October 31, saw around 1,608 cases of "unreasonable" alarm chain pulling cases. Of these, 1,381 passengers were prosecuted, realising a fine of Rs 10.06 lakh. Delay due to alarm chain pulling accounts for about 5 per cent of punctuality loss of trains.

Railways studied the 25 main reasons behind such events, and the analysis showed that in about 50 per cent of cases reasons were not known. Among the most affected stations are Kalyan, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Dadar, Thane, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Kasara.

"Of late, it has been noticed that passengers are resorting to pulling alarm chains for frivolous reasons such as arriving late, alighting/boarding at intermediate stations etc. We appeal to passengers not to do this for unnecessary/frivolous reasons as it delays trains and inconveniences the rest of travellers. It is also a punishable offence under section 141 of the Indian Railways Act, 1989," said Central Railway's Chief Public Relations Officer Shivaji Sutar.

1,608
No. of unreasonable chain pulling cases so far this year