Suicides plague Delhi metro

Use of platform screen doors can solve the problem, feel experts

Just days before the New Year, another suicide has brought scourge upon the otherwise meticulous report of the Delhi Metro services.

Despite its good performance and an extravagant budget, the Delhi metro officials have strikingly overlooked platform screen doors, which can avoid untoward incidents.

On its fourth birthday on Monday, the Delhi metro was greeted with a bad news, as a 32-year-old man committed suicide on the tracks. The man was accompanying his family, when he suddenly jumped into the track at the sight of a speeding train.

Anuj Dayal, chief, PRO, DMRC, said:”This is a common problem every where in the world. And in Kolkata, it is worst. While there have been some deaths over the year, we have been able to avert many more because of drivers’ quick response.”
And the only way, DMRC officials feel, the problem can be averted is by installing platform screen doors.
 
Such doors are extensively used in metro stations abroad. Tube stations in London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong have the facility. The doors run across the platform as barriers between the tracks and the platform. Special doors open up when the train stops at the station. This reduces chances of suicide as the wall prevents passengers from going close to the tracks. They step into the train directly through the doors instead of waiting on the platform.

“In a mass transit system, it is difficult to take foolproof precautions. But we already have enough security deployed at all platforms. Platform screen doors that are known to prevent suicide attempts are very expensive,” Dayal said. The Delhi metro has already spent Rs 10,571 crores in the first phase. It is expected to spend around Rs 18,000 crores more in the next phase. In Hong Kong, installing the system for 74 platforms has cost nearly two billion dollars.

In the last two years, at least, four people have died on the tracks. “Drivers are psychologically trained to take split-second decisions when faced with such situations,” Dayal said.