Metro Madness! Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Mirror

(from February 1, 2007)

I wrote the following letter to the editor of the Montreal Mirror last week, and they actually published it! I'm glad they did because I think this is an important story that needs to be heard, not just by Montrealers but by everyone who lives in a major city with mass transit:

Today I witnessed every metro rider's worst nightmare - somebody fell onto the tracks right before my eyes, and I could hear the train coming!!! I had just reached the bottom of the escalator at St. Henri station; the young lady had been on the opposite platform so I didn't see what had caused her fall, but my immediate reaction upon seeing her land in the middle of the track was to run like hell to the big red SOS phone, pick it up and yell at the person on the other end to STOP THE TRAIN!! Instead they asked me if I could still see her, if I was sure she was on the track, blah blah blah. Fortunately by that time her friend had pulled her up ... but the train was well on its way into the station. If her friend hadn't helped her, my efforts would have tragically been in vain. At least I DID something - everyone else just stood there like deer in the headlights. So many things are wrong with this picture. Why didn't I remember that there's a red handle there that you can pull to cut off the power to the tracks? Why wasn't the operator trained to immediately tell me to pull it, or do something himself, instead of stalling and asking questions? Why didn't anyone else do anything?

I know that when I make my way to the metro platform my mind is often occupied with the hustle & bustle of everyday life and I'm not thinking about things that could possibly go wrong at that moment - I may passively notice all that emergency stuff on the side there, but hey, it's just a precaution ... it must be there for someone else, right? I mean, when would I ever need to use it? Think again.

I am making a plea to all my fellow metro commuters ... Please, when you arrive on the platform to wait for the train, have a look along the entire length of the wall and notice where the SOS phones are. There's a red handle in the plexiglass case, either above or below the big red phone, that will cut off the power to the tracks. Just make a mental note of it, for future reference. Because you never know when you will have mere seconds to act, and nobody else (including TRAINED PERSONNEL) is going to do anything about it ... PULL THE HANDLE!!! You may save someone's life!

-Vanessa Rodrigues

To see the letter as it appeared in the Mirror, go to the following url:
http://www.montrealmirror.com/2007/012507/letters.html

To see follow-up responses from other Mirror readers, go to:
http://www.montrealmirror.com/2007/020107/letters.html