Rats! Chain-pulling becoming a nuisance

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Central Railway (CR) are dealing with bizarre cases of chain-pulling, wherein railway commuters are resorting to it for reasons as trivial as a rat in their compartment.

There have been 126 cases of chain-pulling reported in the month of September alone which has significantly affected the punctuality of trains. The RPF have now kept an eye out for these offenders and identified several chronic spots such as Kasara-Titwala ghat, Thane, Dadar, LTT, Ambernath, Kurla and Igatpuri. After the alarm chain is pulled to halt the train it takes anywhere between 2 minutes to 15 minutes for the system to be back on track. This results in bunching of trains and disturbing the punctuality of all trains on tracks.

Divisional Security Commissioner of CR, Sachin Bhalaode said, “It gets very difficult to catch hold of the offenders but we at times do find them getting off the coach. Those caught have given bizarre reasons such as they pulled the chain because they dropped their cell phones.”

Chain-pulling is also not restricted to local trains but is also rampant in long-distance trains such as Pushpak Express. Commuters in long-distance trains pull the chains to get off at places which they find closer to their home. “The halt of the long distance trains affects the punctuality the most. It takes over 15 minutes for the guard to get off and reach the compartment and fix the system,” added Bhalode.