Calcutta: All East-West Metro coaches will have a pair of emergency exits - one on each side - that will allow passengers to step out and take a walkway to the nearest platform.
A prototype coach, which arrived in Calcutta a couple of days ago and was unveiled by the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) - the implementing agency for the project - on Saturday, has a door on each side that a motorman would open in an emergency.
Fourteen East-West rakes are being built by BEML (formerly Bharat Earth Movers Ltd), a Bangalore-based public sector unit, at a cost of around Rs 900 crore, an official said.
In the existing north-south route, passengers have to exit the train through the motorman's or the guard's cabin in an emergency. They then have to walk on the tracks to reach the nearest station.
The power supply - 750 volt DC - to the tracks has to be cut off before passengers can step out, thus delaying evacuation and leaving passengers stranded underground, sometimes in the middle of two stations. "For passengers - especially children and the aged - holed up in the fourth or fifth coach, it is a traumatic walk up to the nearest platform," a Metro official said.
That will change on the East-West Metro. The entire 16.5km stretch of the East-West Metro route will have walkways running along the tracks. The walkways would be at the same level as the doors, making it easier for passengers to step onto them when the doors open. The feature would be especially useful for passengers with disability.
When a north-south Metro passenger presses the emergency button, a voice on the public address system asks commuters not to panic. The newer rakes on the north-south route have talkback units on which the motorman can guide passengers.
A couple of years ago, Metro Railway had released a short video to educate passengers about how to evacuate a train in an emergency.
The ordeal is worse in summer. On June 23, 2014, a train got stuck between Maidan and Park Street because of a snag. People had banged on doors and screamed for help whenever a train passed in the opposite direction. They were evacuated around 45 minutes late.
