Representative image of people waiting to board a Bengaluru metro.
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: A female security guard's presence of mind foiled a suicide attempt at the Jnanabharathi metro station in western Bengaluru on Tuesday but she suffered injuries in the process, officials said.
This was the fourth incident of passengers jumping on metro tracks this year. One was fatal.
Siddharth, 30, a native of Bihar's Arrah district, jumped on the tracks as a Challaghatta-bound train approached platform number 2 of the Jnanabharathi metro station at 2.13 pm.
Thinking on her feet, 30-year-old security guard Rashmi rushed to the Emergency Trip System (ETS). Using the emergency hammer, she broke the glass covering of the ETS and activated it, cutting off the power supply to the 750v third rail, a senior official in Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said.
Rashmi's rapid action halted the train midway on the platform. Although Siddharth ended up under the first coach of the train, he miraculously survived with only minor injuries. However, Rashmi sustained injuries when two glass shards from the ETS pierced her hands, and she had to be taken to hospital, the official added.
The BMRCL has filed a police complaint against Siddharth, a B.Com graduate working as a salesman at an electronics store in the city. He lives with his brother and reportedly attempted suicide due to his financial problems, the official said.
The incident disrupted train services on the entire Purple Line (Whitefield-Challaghatta) for 17 minutes. Between 2.13 pm and 2.30 pm, two short-loop trains were operated up to Mysuru Road, instead of the terminal station of Challaghatta, the BMRCL said.
The incidents have prompted calls to install platform screen doors/gates (PSDs/PSGs) at metro stations. PSDs/PSGs are synchronised with train movements and designed to prevent people from jumping onto the tracks. They also result in energy savings due to lower air-conditioning requirements at underground stations.
BMRCL Managing Director M Maheshwar Rao said these incidents were "extremely traumatic for our loco pilots".
He emphasised the importance of raising mental health awareness and explained the challenges in installing PSDs/PSGs at existing stations, which would require re-evaluating design aspects and retrofitting. "The metro is for people to travel. We need to see how we can install these PSDs," he told DH.
The BMRCL plans to install PSDs at all the existing 66 stations and has discussed the technicalities though funding remains a challenge. In the short term, the PSDs will be installed at Majestic and either Central College or MG Road. "We will do it in stages. Installing PSDs at each station would cost Rs 9-10 crore. Installing them at Majestic will be challenging given the high passenger load," he explained.