Death on tracks: Kolkata Metro suicide cases and prevention measures discussed in Parliament
Telegraph | 21 March 2025
Nineteen people have died by suicide in the north-south Metro corridor (Blue Line) in the past five years, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed Parliament on Wednesday.
Vaishnaw was replying to a question from Mala Roy, Trinamool MP from South Kolkata, in the Lok Sabha.
The Blue Line, connecting New Garia in the south and Dakshineswar in the north, is the oldest and busiest Metro corridor. Suicide bids often disrupt the city’s transport lifeline.
Roy had sought “details of suicide cases” during the past five years and wanted to know “whether there is any proposal to install sliding doors in Metro Rail platforms in Kolkata Metro”.
The minister gave a year-wise break-up of Metro suicides (see chart).
The minister shared the number of suicides. The number of attempted suicides, which also cause disruptions in services, is higher. “In 2023, there were 12 suicide attempts and in 2024, there were 15 attempts,” said a Metro official.
On February 10, Metro services were disrupted for close to an hour in the evening after a suicide bid at Esplanade station. On January 23, another suicide bid at Kavi Nazrul station around 4.30pm disrupted services for over an hour.
A Metro official attributed the dip in suicide cases in 2020 and 2021 to Covid. By March 2020, the surge in Covid-19 had created a panic and public transport started witnessing a dip in footfall. Metro trains were first suspended from March 23, 2020, to tackle the surge in Covid cases. In the following months, the services resumed but with several curbs. The curbs were completely lifted in February 2022.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Vaishnaw said: “Sliding doors have been provided at all 12 stations of Green line. Installing barriers instead of sliding doors on railway stations of Kolkata, Metro has been undertaken as a pilot project at Kalighat Metro station.”
Green Line refers to the East-West Metro corridor, which has platform screen doors that prevent suicide bids. The Blue Line does not.
Metro authorities are now in the process of installing guard rails along the edge of platforms in a bid to prevent suicide bids. A series of such guard rails has already come up at Kalighat station on a trial basis.
In 2015, the Centre turned down a proposal to install automatic platform screen doors at Metro stations in the city because of high costs, railway sources said.
It would have cost almost ₹150 crore to build the screens.