Pulling a chain to stop a train will soon be thing of the past. (Representational Image)
Pulling a chain to stop a train will soon be thing of the past as the Railways has decided to do away with it as the facility was prone to regular misuse and led to loss of revenues to the public transporter.
Passengers will now have to get in touch directly with the locomotive pilots in case of emergency. All passengers would be provided an emergency contact number of the drivers.
The measure has already been initiated by the Railways by removing the chains in existing coaches, officials said, adding communications have been sent to the coach manufacturing units as well.
Chain pulling has been a big menace across the railway network, especially in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, leading to delays and a drain on the railway exchequer. Of particular concern was its misuse for nefarious activities.
The proposal to remove the facility was in the offing for quite some time and there had a lengthy deleberation of this, officials said.
However, to ensure that genuine passengers in emergency do not face trouble, Railways have decided to engage staff in some coaches of a train who would be present with a walkie talkie and assist the passengers.