The Metro is becoming increasingly unsafe what with accidents becoming routine, the latest one being the fire at the Park Street substation on Saturday. The fire which took place could have turned worse had not there been prompt action. But this is only the tip of the iceberg and unless the Metro railways authorities take corrective action soon and fast, a day could come when the accidents underground may not be restricted to only footnotes.

Metro sources have said that the problem has been ageold and that the demand for rakes has never been met with the earnestness that it deserves. The idea and solution has always been to plug loopholes with stop-gap formula, something which has led to opening up of holes every now and again, thus endangering passenger safety.

It is pertinent that overhauling takes place at regular intervals since the Metro rakes subscribe to modern state of the art technology. However, this has never been done and thus the loopholes suddenly come out for all to see. It is strange that rakes, which have been otherwise discarded by other countries, have found their way into India for no logical reason and thus the entire exercise of safety has been pushed back. There has also been the ad hoc practice of buying spares from the local and making do with them; again something which has dangerous portends given the technological finesse with which the Metro was envisaged and with which it is ordinarily compatible with.