New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) has said in its investigation report that the death of a female passenger at the Inderlok metro station on December 14, 2023 occurred due to the entanglement of her water bottle at the coach door as well as lapses in following the safety system.
“One end of bottle strap made of nylon tied with passenger’s hand remained outside the coach door and another end with the bottle remained inside coach door,” the probe report said.
“The entanglement occurred while hurriedly deboarding the train by the passenger at the time of door closing and possibly ignoring the door closing alarm and then dragging of passenger occurred due to system lapses/inadequacy both in Standard Operating Procedures and available technology to deal such unforeseen events,” it added.
Media reports had said after the incident that the passenger’s sari got stuck at the door and she was dragged along with the train.
Besides inadequate awareness campaigns for passengers and counselling of train operators to perform their duties correctly, the CRS investigation has revealed various concerning safety lapses regarding the deployment of safety guards, prompt rectification of station cameras and improvement in the rear view mirror, among others.
The CRS has recommended 12 safety steps for Delhi Metro to follow, important among those are enhanced awareness campaigns, modifying the SOP for train operations, increasing the number of safety guards and exploring retrofitting of the existing doors with anti-drag features.
“An awareness drive to educate passengers regarding safe travel through metro has been launched to make them aware about safe boarding and deboarding on Delhi Metro trains,” the Delhi Metro said in its action-taken report.
Regarding the counselling of train operators and modifying the SOP, the Delhi Metro said corrective measures have been taken with suitable instructions that before the start of the train, the train operator, through available means, should ensure that there is no infringement at the doors.
The Delhi Metro has also said that besides the deployment of additional guards at crowded spots, based on the recommendation of the CRS, a visual alarm system (a flashing light) to alert the train operator through guards has been installed at 63 locations.
It has said that necessary instructions have been issued for the identification of CCTV monitors and whether cameras have been installed at platforms, and that any defect in these equipment shall be promptly attended by the department concerned.
“Drive to increase audio level of the door opening/closing announcements/chimes has been completed in all trains of the stocks (348 trains) including RMGL and Airport Line,” it sai8d in response to one of the recommendations of the CRS.
The Delhi Metro also said the work of installing the anti-drag system was awarded to a company — Mitech — on October 11, 2024 for five trains with a target to complete it by January 2026.
It has also replaced 1,000-mm diameter rear view with 1,200-mm diameter following the CRS’ instructions at interchanged station and station with curved view. PTI JP RC
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