Title - Time to break chains to the past

The train comes to a screeching halt — its third unscheduled stop in less than an hour. One of the passengers looks out of the window only to find vast swathes of agricultural land with a few scattered huts in the middle of nowhere."Looks like a case of chain pulling again," he mutters, throwing in a few expletives for good measure even as other passengers nod in agreement and brace themselves for further delays. This is a common scenario often repeated in thousands of trains across the country.

Alarm chain pulling — or ACP, if one were to use the official rail terminology, has been responsible for not only train delays but also accidents. The most recent example is the collision of two local trains in Mumbai a few days back. This was attributed to a commuter on one of the trains pulling the chain, causing the train to slow down and being hit by another fast-approaching locomotive. Pranksters, thieves and vendors have regularly misused the alarm chain. What is disconcerting is that it is also being abused by those wishing to make a point. In a curious incident some time back, a passenger reportedly resorted to continuous chain pulling as a form of protest, insisting that her grievance be addressed, otherwise the train would not be allowed to move. A former railway board member agrees that ACP is a big menace.

"The Rs 1,000 fine or the threat of imprisonment is hardly a deterrent since it is often difficult to catch the perpetrators. Also, the ACP setup is itself quite archaic. When a chain is pulled, it creates a break in the continuity of the brake pipes, immediately resulting in a loss of brake pressure over which the driver or guard have little control. It is something that the railways has been aware of for a long time and has been trying to rectify," he says.

In order to stop people from arbitrarily stopping the train, the railways' passenger amenities committee had recommended doing away with the alarm chain and putting in place a two way communication system where passengers in every compartment can speak to the driver in case of an emergency. However , things do not seem to have moved much forward in the implementation of this system. G Raghuram, professor at IIM Ahmedabad, who was a member of a recent expert group for modernization of Indian Railways says it's because the railways doesn't seem to have taken it up on priority.

"Having a two-way communication system is the most obvious thing to do. I don't know why it hasn't been done yet, since it can be easily put in place without much modification to the coaches. Someone at the top, like the railways minister or the chairman of the railway board has to prioritize it. Only then can it be done soon."

Incidentally, in 2006, former president APJ Abdul Kalam had urged the railways to phase out the alarm chain system and replace it with better technology. During a speech at the ceremonial parade of the Railway Protection Force, Kalam had said that the railways should consider "the provision of a communication system in all the compartments on the lines of the system already being followed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation."

A spokesperson for the railways says that the system has been under active consideration although "it will take some time to find out the status of its implementation." Wonder how much more time the railways would require to pull the plug on its alarm chains.