Bengaluru: Platform safety doors needed at Metro stations

Bengaluru: The failed suicide bid by a 25 year old tailor at the National College metro station on Friday afternoon, has only added urgency to the call for better safety measures to stop accidents in the city's metro stations. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited plans to installing Platform Screen Doors at Metro stations as PSDs - installed in Chennai and Delhi - act as barriers between the platform and the tracks.  

Automatic platform gates, chest-height sliding doors at the edge of railway platforms help to prevent passengers from falling off the platform onto railway tracks. In March 2012, 17 year old Vishnu committed suicide at the M.G. Road metro station.  

The Friday’s suicide attempt at National College metro station has once again brought to focus the need to enhance passenger safety measures and installation of platform screen doors (PSDs).

While Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is currently planning to install them at upcoming underground Metro stations, passengers have been demanding that the same should be also installed at all stations.

It may be recalled that in March, 2012, a 17-year-old teen Vishnu had jumped in front of the moving train at M.G. Road station and died on the spot. These two incidents call for improving security measures at all metro stations, especially those that witness heavy footalls during peak hours.

Installing the PSDs would be the best way to prevent people from jumping before running trains and also accidental falls due to jostling during peak hours.

Metro rail corporations in Delhi and Chennai have already installed PSDs, which also keep platforms cooler by preventing the air generated by ACs from flowing into tunnels.

PSD are installed in sync with Metro coach doors and they open only after the train stops. Metro rails in cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Paris too have PSDs.

BMRCL sources said they were contemplating on installing PSDs at underground stations in Phase 2, as well as crowded stations like Majestic which is also an interchange station.

PSDs were first mooted after the MG Road station suicide incident, but the clamour for the same arose after metro riderships increased stations started witnessing heavy footfalls.