Chain-pulling continues to be major reason for train delays

The Southern Railway (SR) said Rs 3.72 lakh was collected as fine and 774 people were prosecuted from January till May this year, a figure higher than the previous Rs 2.8 lakh collected from 737 passengers.

“Though Railways is striving hard to maintain the punctuality of trains being operated under its control, the menace of Alarm Chain Pulling (ACP) is adjudged as one of the major factors for the delayed operation of trains at the national-level,” a statement issued by SR said.

Co-passengers could not board/alight, missing of belongings, passenger got down to purchase eatables and did not return, no water in the coach, light/fan not working, passenger overslept were among the common reasons behind passengers pulling the chain, it said.

Pulling the chains without reasonable and sufficient cause attracts punishment of imprisonment which may extend to one year or fine which may extend to Rs 1000 or with both, the statement said.

The SR is operating, on an average, 1,305 mail and express trains every day, apart from 652 EMU and MEMU suburban trains carrying 2.41 million people.