KOCHI: A month after the floods affected its services, the Kochi Metro, the city’s fastest transport network system, is still grappling with technical issues.
The display boards, which show the arrival and departure timings of the trains, have gone off. Even announcements at the station platforms have gone haywire, leaving commuters confused. Officials with the Kochi Metro say they are striving to get the situation back to normal, but it will take time.
“The announcements and the display boards all work under a common system.
It’s the main server is located at the Muttom Yard in Aluva, which was inundated during the floods. Though we were able to resume train services and other amenities that the Kochi Metro provides, we have not yet been able to operate the display boards which work on a centralised system. The announcements also have been linked to the server and they are also yet to become functional. We are not sure when the signboards will start functioning as the spare parts will have to be imported from foreign countries. We are working on it,” said the spokesperson with Kochi Metro Rail Limited.
According to officials, they had to face a lot of technical snags owing to the floods. “On the days of the heavy floods, we suspended the services. However, after we resumed operations, all trains were operating at just 25 km per hour which is way below the original speed. It’s only been a few weeks since we were able to resume it to its normal speed,” officials said.
Some passengers say that the frequency of trains has reduced during night hours. “There was a metro train every eight minutes even in the evening. However, now there is a delay of over 10 minutes,” said Harikrishnan, a frequent commuter. Many others complaint that announcements inside trains were haywire too as station names are often mistaken.
“That is not a regular issue. Still, it could be due to some technical fault. Also, we have reduced the frequency of trains during the night due to low patronage and because they have to be pulled into the yard for maintenance,” KMRL officials said.
Technical issues at Muttom Yard
The Operations Control Centre at the Muttom Yard in Aluva which is the spinal network of the Kochi Metro was affected in the floods. The majority of the equipment and systems were damaged. The yard, which is located at a low lying area is easily susceptible to natural calamities like the flood.
Delay
The Kochi Metro faced a delay of over four minutes at 4.25 pm on Saturday owing to signalling issues. Power disruption leading to halting of trains have also become a concern especially during the heavy rains. KMRL officials have promised to work on a warfoot basis to overcome the signalling issues.