Chain pulling increases during summer, festive season in Ambala division

CHANDIGARH: Come festival season, trains get very busy. And so are those who pull chains in trains. Ambala division officials said the data collated has revealed that chain pulling is at maximum during summer breaks and festival seasons.
According to the records with Ambala division, between April 2018 and July, highest number of chain pulling cases are received from Saharanpur-Ludhiana section.The Chandigarh section, which includes Kalka-Shimla as well, ranks second with 197 cases.
Of which, in July 2018, Saharanpur Ludhiana has registered 93 cases, which is the highest in the division and in June, the number touched 152, which is highest till date. In Chandigarh section, in June 2018, 11 cases were registered while in June, the number stands at 31.
Dinesh C Sharma, divisional railway manager Ambala division said, on an average he is getting three to four complaints of chain pulling daily. During investigation, it was found out that most of the time the reason for chain pulling is not because of emergency, but because someone wanted to de-board the train near his or her village/town/city. In large number of cases, the violator manages to escape after pulling the chain.
To prevent people from pulling-and-fleeing in future, Sharma said the division is considering coaches that have push doors. But at present the situation is worse: between April 2018 and July, 2,227 trains were effected due to chain pulling, he added. According to Sharma, chain pulling has prevented the division from achieving 100% punctuality.