There were moments of horror and fear today of a rerun of the Metro tragedy of 13 July when the hand of a commuter got stuck between the doors of a Metro coach today but the train kept running at Netaji Bhawan station.
But this time the passenger was inside the coach and the Railway Protection Force personnel and the motorman swung into action and prevented a repeat of the tragedy when 66-year-old Sajal Kanjilal had lost his life after being dragged along the running train with his hand got stuck in the doors.
The incident took place around 8.47 a.m. According to sources, the man, who could not be identified, was trying to board a Dum Dumbound train at Netaji Bhawan metro station in the last minutes when the doors were about to be closed. Unlike the previous accident, the rake in which he got in was an old one. The doors reportedly closed after he got inside, and his hand got stuck in between the door flaps padded with rubber.
Two coaches, according to Metro sources, had already left the platform and entered the tunnel, while the commuter was in the third coach from the rear side of the rake.
The RPF personnel deployed on the platform spotted the hand stuck between the doors and raised an alarm. The motorman immediately applied the emergency brakes and stopped the rake
In the meantime, the commuter, who had been able to get inside the rake, pulled back his hand and was saved. The train was stopped for a few seconds before resuming its journey towards Dum Dum.
Sources in Metro railway, meanwhile, said that the man might have placed his hand deliberately, as the rake was not crowded and the chances of his hand getting stuck by accident were remote.
Notably, in the past 10 days several cases of commuters trying to block closing doors with their hands or other unruly behaviour were reported. The RPF fined two of these commuters. In today’s incident, the commuter was, however, not penalised.
Meanwhile, the incident has once again raised questions on the safety mechanism of the rakes, which the Metro authorities have on several occasions claimed to be foolproof. While the quick response of the RPF and the motorman is being appreciated, the question why the train started running despite there being an obstruction preventing the doors from closing fully, is being raised again.
The ongoing high level enquiry being done by the commissioner of railway safety, eastern circle, into the death of Sajal Kanjilal, sources say, has revealed the light above the door was still red, when the rake started off from Park Street Metro station.
The finding has now raised questions as to whether the sensors in the door could not read the glitch, or the motorman allegedly took no notice of the man hanging from the door, or there was some miscommunication between the guard and the motorman.
The enquiry team is said to be trying to find out whether there were human faults or technical glitches that could have led to the death of Sajal Kanjilal. A final report on the incident, however, is yet to be given by the CRS.