How Secure Is India's Metro Network?

The Metro is one thing people of Delhi are really proud of. However, this mode of mass rapid transportation is also emerging as a top choice to end lives.

That killer instinct

From four in 2011 to 12 in 2012, the number of people who killed themselves at metro stations in Delhi increased, data show. While the number of deaths may not have seen an alarming rise since, the attempts to raise these numbers certainly have.

In 2016, 76 people attempted suicide at various metro stations and 12 died. The streak is unhindered so far ─ in the first month of 2018, two deaths have already been reported.

On January 20, a 67-year-old man ended his life by jumping before a metro train at Dwarka Sector 12 Station. Due to the accident, the movement of the trains at the station was disrupted for "a few minutes", officials said. On January 5, a 74-year-old man resorted to the same idea to commit suicide at GTB Metro station due to family discontent. Despite the driver hitting the brakes, the man could not be saved.

Kolkata may be famous for being the first city in India to run the metro. However, the notoriety of the network as a suicide point is also going far and wide. The City of Joy reported 58 deaths in 2008, where the metro network was used as a suicide point. Of all suicides committed at metro stations in Kolkata, most were office goers in the age-group of 35-40, says a study.  

On January 22, a man committed suicide at Shyambazar Metro Station in Kolkata. This halted services between Central and Kavi Subhash stations for 35 minutes. The next day, a coach of an empty rake of the Kolkata metro got derailed while it was being turned towards the opposite direction at a 'Y-siding' of Maidan station. However, no life damage was reported.

Where to from here?

This brings us to the point, what are Indian cities doing to prevent such deaths?

While CCTV surveillance, marking of prohibited areas and idle sitting at platforms is barred across networks in India, some systems have come with innovative measures to deal with the issue. The Kolkata Metro, for instance, in 2001 decided to play classical music on platform. Among the many other motives behind the move was the effort to calm the nervous of the people who turn up at stations with a tendency to hurt themselves.

In the recent past, the Delhi Metro has installed platform screen doors (PSD) in six major underground stations. Platform screen doors are synchronised to open along with the train doors. This way, commuters have no access to the tracks. Notably, the Delhi Metro has over 150 such stations. The Chennai Metro has, on the other hand, installed PSD in all its 19 underground stations. In Delhi, the height of the walls and railing is also being raised to prevent such accidents from happening.

It is worth mentioning here that Singapore is the only subway network where suicides do not occur because platform screen doors across stations limit passengers from access to the trains and tracks.

In London, suicide pits (areas with suspended rails) have been installed at several stations to reduce the risk of injury from being hit by a train.

In Nuremberg, when a passenger steps over a line on the platform, those working on the video surveillance system tell the person over a loudspeaker to step back. This can prompt preventive action from fellow passengers.

Metro networks in India will have to work along the same lines.