Probing train door glitch,Metro seeks help of global agencies

Confirming this,Director (Operations),DMRC,Raj Kumar told Newsline: “We have written to Metro systems across the globe and asked them about their experiences. A few countries have written back saying that similar incidents have been reported there too,while some have said that commuters are more aware and do not obstruct doors. However,here,such incidents are caused due to unruly behaviour of commuters.”

While DMRC is collating all responses and drafting a solution to the problem,in-house technical experts and a team of expatriates are still working on the Metro train involved in the incident and are trying to simulate all possible obstructions between the doors to identify the exact nature of the fault.

One of the issues that they have been able to pinpoint is that the train doors are locked at the top and the sensors are located along the door’s length till 20 cm approximately above the floor of the train. Officials said that since the commuter’s ankle was stuck right at the bottom,it could be possible that the door got locked from above and the ankle was not detected by sensors. But during the simulation process,the doors continued to detect the obstruction,leaving the technical team clueless.

Officials said in a single day’s operation,doors of a Metro train (16 doors in each train) open and close approximately 12 lakh times. “Their smooth functioning is to be maintained at optimum so as to provide peak hour frequency of 2 minutes 25 seconds. If the train door does not open and close with precision,the frequency and punctuality of trains will go haywire,” a Delhi Metro spokesperson said.

According to internal estimates,the DMRC found that over 40 times a day,train doors are purposely blocked by commuters. “There have been instances where commuters deliberately block doors as they try to board it at the last minute or wait for others to board the train. Such repeated abuse of the operation interferes with the sensor technology,” Kumar said.

“This also delays the trains,as the doors open automatically and wait for the operator’s command to close again. Earlier,numerous cases were reported where commuters purposely placed marbles and pan masala pouches on rubber gaskets and channels just to see how sensors detect them. Following repeated checks,such incidents have now come down,” he said.

A fine of Rs 200,forfeiture of pass,ticket and removal from carriage is imposed on commuters found blocking doors on purpose. “We will intensify our awareness drive,put signages on doors and deploy scouts and guides at platforms to further sensitise commuters,” Kumar said.