The doors of Metro trains have in the past opened on the wrong side in a station, tunnel or viaduct.
Now, the carrier has started an upgrade — on the North-South corridor, between New Garia and Dakshineswar — that it said will prevent such errors.
The upgrade will involve linking two existing systems installed in the trains.
“There is the Passenger Information System (PIS), which is used to announce the names of the next station and the side the upcoming platform will be on. It will be linked with the Train Control Management System (TCMS), a system that is used to run trains,” said an official of Metro Railway.
He explained how the integration would avert the faulty opening of doors.
“The PIS will feed information to the control system, which is in charge of all the functions of the train, including acceleration to brakes to the opening and closing of doors. Now, the PIS will inform the control system when the train arrives at a station and if the platform is on the right or left,” the official added.
The doors will open only after the TCMS is updated about a train reaching a station and the position of the platform, thereby ruling out the possibility of the doors opening on the wrong side.
The same principle will prevent the faulty opening of doors inside a tunnel or a viaduct.
The East-West Metro corridor, where the stations have platform screen doors that are synchronised with the train doors, is immune from the problem, said officials.
For now, the integration will be done on 16 rakes in the North-South corridor.