Two-feet-long snake found in Metro train

The hugely popular Metro rail services in the city apparently was irresistible for a harmless snake that scored some 80 plus free rides aboard one of the Metro trains over six days. And before it was rescued on Monday afternoon, the two-feet-long non-poisonous Common Bronzeback Tree Snake is believed to have travelled around 2,500 km on the 29-km LB Nagar-Miyapur stretch after it was first spotted on August 14.

The sleek reptile appeared to have decided to spend some time looking out at the city on its last ride as Metro train No. DB031 snaked along the tracks on Monday afternoon. “We found it between the pilot’s dashboard and the windscreen,” MS Jayashankar, a techie who doubles up as a snake rescuer from Friends of Snakes Society, told that after rescuing the snake. 

The Bronzeback was first reported in the train pilot’s cabin on August 14 when the train was at Dilsukhnagar. Friends of Snakes Society members, informed of its



presence, went and searched for it the same day. The snake, however, had by then slithered out of sight. Incidentally, it was again near Dilsukhnagar that the snake decided to reappear.

It is learnt that passengers were evacuated at Dilsukhnagar as a matter of abundant precaution before the train was taken to the LB Nagar depot where it was parked for the snake to be removed. In a bid to stay out of potential harm’s way, the train pilot is also learnt to have legged it to the rear pilot cabin and drove the train in reverse to LB Nagar.

“The Bronzeback is an absolutely harmless snake. It is a very rare, one-off event to have a snake slither into a Metro train. There is no need for any unnecessary fear among citizens on this count,” Avinash Vishwanathan, the Society’s general secretary said. The snake will be released in a forested area in coordination with the Forest Department, he added.