Railways have provided an Alarm Chain Pulling (ACP) option in Suburban and Mail / Express trains for use during emergency purpose only.

Of late, it has been observed that many ACP instances are caused due to multifarious reasons for which cases are registered as per Railway Act. The reasons range from pulling the ACP chain by mistake, persons not being able to board the train in time, mobile phones falling down, and other flimsy excuses.

The act of ACP in train causes a huge loss not only to the passengers travelling in the affected train but also following trains indirectly. Further, the misuse of ACP for the convenience of one or few passengers ends up causing inconvenience to a large number of passengers.

During the period 01.06.2025 to 19.06.2025, 150 trains on Central Railway have suffered detention to the tune of 10–15 mins due to ACP as against 98 trains during the corresponding period last year, which is a whopping increase of 53%, and multiple following trains have also suffered.

On Mumbai division, since traffic involves both Mail/Exp trains and suburban trains, the cascading effect has been tremendous with suburban trains getting delayed and passengers inconvenienced at stations.

Division-wise details of number of trains which suffered detention due to ACP are as follows:

• 26 cases on Bhusaval division during 01.06.2025 to 19.06.2025 as against 13 cases during the corresponding period last year
• 52 cases on Nagpur division during 01.06.2025 to 19.06.2025 as against 28 cases during the corresponding period last year
• 57 cases on Mumbai division during 01.06.2025 to 19.06.2025 as against 41 cases during the corresponding period last year

Central Railway is keeping a close tab on such unreasonable ACP incidents.

During the period 01.06.2025 to 20.06.2025, 666 ACP cases have been registered, on account of which 463 passengers have been prosecuted and an amount of Rs. 1.70 lakh has been realized as penalty.

Division-wise details of ACP cases registered, persons prosecuted and fine collected during the period 01.06.2025 to 20.06.2025 are as follows:

Central Railway appeals to passengers not to resort to ACP for frivolous reasons, thereby inconveniencing others. Resorting to ACP in unnecessary circumstances is a punishable offence under Section 141 of the Railways Act.

Railways also appeal to passengers to reach the terminus/station well in advance before the departure of their respective trains and carry limited luggage. Passengers may also utilize the services of battery-operated cars or use wheelchairs available at the Station Manager’s office for movement of senior citizens, differently abled persons, etc., to smoothly board the trains in time, thus avoiding the need to use Alarm Chain Pulling for frivolous reasons.

Source/CR