Alarm chains in trains are to be used in emergency situations to stop the train. However, incidents of chain-pulling by passengers for trivial reasons seem to be on a rise. According to a report by The New Indian Express, 63 cases of Alarm Chain Pulling (ACP) were booked at City, Yeshwantpur and KR Puram railway stations in the period between January 1 to May 10, 2015. In 2014, 87 such cases were booked in the course of the entire year and Rs 50,300 was collected from offenders. “Out of the ACP cases booked, 60 percent are not genuine emergencies,” S Louis Amuthan, senior divisional security commissioner of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Bengaluru, told the newspaper. Cases against offenders are booked under Section 141 of the Railways Act, and a fine of Rs 1,000 or/and imprisonment up to a month can be imposed. But offenders are usually asked to pay a fine of Rs 500, states the report. As a railway officer put it, an emergency situation is one "like a dacoity inside a moving train, a serious health problem for a passenger or an accident". Once someone pulls the alarm chain, the train stops and pressure is built to restart it. "It takes 15 to 20 minutes for the train to move again as the assistant loco pilot or guard needs to come to the specific compartment and reset the valve, which is opened when the chain is pulled,” Sunanda Arul, additional divisional railway manager, explained.