Automatic platform screen doors in Kolkata metro stations to prevent suicide attempts

Kolkata : With frequent cases of suicides and attempts being reported from different stations of Kolkata Metro Rail, the authorities have decided to introduce automatic platform screen doors at all the stations.

A senior official of the metro railways said that the automatic platform screen doors will open automatically after the train reaches and halts at a station and will automatically close after the process of entry and exit of the passengers is completed.

“This will make the rail tracks totally inaccessible and invisible to the passengers all the time and hence there will be absolutely no chance for suicide attempts by jumping on the tracks. Hence the delay in schedule following such suicides or suicide attempts will also be ruled out,” the official explained.

This system will be installed in all the stations of Kolkata Metro, the oldest city metro rail system in the country, connecting the southern outskirts of Garia to the northern outskirts of Dakshineswar.

Already the system of automatic platform screen doors are in place in the existing and running route of East- West Metro in the city that connects Sealdah in central Kolkata to Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata. There had not been a single report of suicide or attempt to suicide in this route.