BENGALURU: With wave after wave of passengers flooding the Majestic station from North and South Bengaluru on Monday, the BMRCL operations team was on their toes, monitoring every single minute.
Three short loop trains were introduced between KG Metro station and Baiyappanahalli at 9.40am, 10.05am and 10.27am from Platform 1.
M Dhoke, in-charge of Operations and Maintenance, told Express, “We have pocket yards (an additional track between two railway tracks) at three stations now: in the East-West underground tunnel of Kempe Gowda station, Mahalakshmi Layout and National College. For the first time, we ran the special loop trains to cater to the rush.”
With engines located on both ends of all Metro trains, two loco-pilots were deputed for these special trains. “One driver brought the train to the pocket yard and switched off the engine. The driver at the other end started the engine and took the train in the reverse direction. We do not even have time for the pilot to alight from one end and reach the other” he said. Announcements were made on mega phone informing passengers about the special train just minutes before they arrived.
The efforts helped. Rajeev K, a project manager for an IT firm who boarded the train at Vijayanagar to Baiyappanahalli, said, “I will never touch my car again. It is such a blessing to avoid all the traffic and to reach much faster too.” His views were echoed by many.
cool under pressure
Incredible patience was displayed by Metro staff, home guards, housekeepers and private security cops with almost every passenger asking questions on the directions. Officials ensured that three queues were formed for passengers to enter each of the coaches.Trains were run every 4 minutes during the peak hours on the Purple Line, and every 6 minutes on the Green Line.