Chennai, Mar 21 (Reporter) The Southern Railway has appealed to the passengers to avoid pulling alarm chains in trains for trivial reasons and said it has to be resorted to only during emergency situations. Alarm chains are provided in trains for passengers facing safety or security issues to attract the attention of loco pilot and guard of the train. Pulling of Alarm Chain, without reasonable and sufficient cause is a punishable offence under Section 141 of Indian Railways Act, 1989. The penalty includes imprisonment up to one year or fine or Rs.1000, or both, a Railway release here on Thursday said. Alarm Chain Pulling (ACP) is adjudged as one of the major factors for the delayed operation of trains services, pan-India. Any unusual stoppage of a train will not only affect the punctuality of that particular train, but also of all the trains running behind it, besides consuming the valuable time of Rail passengers. It is observed that there are many instances of resorting of Alarm Chain Pulling by non-travellers on board who have actually come to send off their kith and kin, but have failed to deboard on time before the train depart and this causes inconvenience to co-passengers as well as impacting the punctuality of trains. Though the Indian Railways is striving hard to maintain the punctuality of trains, incidents of ACP in trains continues to affect the punctuality of train services. Southern Railway is operating, on an average, 1,200 Mail/Express trains daily, apart from 609 EMU and MEMU Suburban trains carrying 19.38 lakh passengers daily. During the year 2023-24 (till date), Southern Railway had registered 2,632 cases for unauthorized Alarm Chain Pulling and in this, 2,618 persons have been arrested and prosecuted with a fine amount of Rs.15,45,165 collected from them. Appealing to the travelling public to refrain from alarm chain pulling to maintain the punctuality of trains, it said in case of any emergency or grievance, the passengers should first inform the Travelling Ticket Examiner in charge of the concerned coach for necessary redressal. Also, rail users are advised to contact RailMadad Helpline 139, which is a one-stop solution for all rail-related complaints and grievances. It said RailMadad App can also be downloaded by Android/ios users through the App store...////...