BENGALURU: Complete chaos prevailed among Metro commuters using the Purple Line on Tuesday morning as trains faced massive delays till noon following a signal failure between Swami Vivekananda Road and Baiyappanahalli Metro stations. The signal failure was due to a new signalling system being installed for the upcoming KR Puram to Baiyappanahalli stretch slated for launch soon. It occurred at 5.40 am bringing train operations to a sudden halt.
“Since Baiyappanahalli is at the border of the upcoming stretch as well as the present operational Purple Line, it got impacted. The problem was set right by 12.08 pm. Services were affected along this stretch with trains made to run only at 20 kmph between Baiyappanahalli and SV Road,” said a senior Metro official. BMRCL ran short loop trains between MG Road and Kempegowda Metro stations to clear the peak hour rush, he added.
Among those heading to work was B S Narahari, who regularly commutes from Vijayanagar Metro station to Cubbon Park Metro station. “When I reached the station in the morning, I found the platform crowded. I was told there was some signal problem when I made enquiries. Why has BMRCL not used their public address system inside trains and platforms to communicate to the public. Commuters were totally clueless,” he told TNIE.
Many took to social media to vent their ire and put out pictures of the massive crowds particularly at Kempegowda Metro station where the lines converged. BMRCL CPRO put out a tweet on the issue from the official handle at 7.35 pm, two hours after the issue, saying: “Expect delays on Purple Line due to signalling issues. Staff are working to normalise. For kind info. Inconvenience regretted.”
This invited much criticism. Many pointed out that not all commuters were on twitter to learn about the delay and demanded to know why the public were not intimated in advance. BMRCL was billed as “unprofessional” and “irresponsible” too. A few took offence that the tweet was only in English. Even the tweet on restoration of normalcy was put out only 4.5 hours after restoration of services.
Pooja K, a commuter, said she went to the Metro station and returned home. “Wasted an hour of peak time,” she tweeted. Deepak, another commuter, tweeted, “Absolute chaos. The display, announcements and the actual Metro schedule are functioning in three different ways. No staff to guide. Peak hour mess by Namma Metro.”