CHENNAI: Early-morning commuters on Chennai Metro’s busiest underground corridor faced an unexpected disruption on Tuesday when a train stalled between High Court and Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M.G. Ramachandran Central stations — triggering what officials said was the first full passenger evacuation inside the tunnel since the network opened.
A Chennai Metro Rail official told The New Indian Express that the Airport–Wimco Nagar service came to an abrupt halt after a battery-related fault stopped the rake mid-tunnel. Staff attempted a restart, but after nearly 30 minutes without success, the control room ordered an evacuation.
Roughly 20 passengers, who had been waiting in darkness inside the halted train, were guided onto the walkway and escorted about 300 metres to High Court station. The train was later towed to Central and moved to the sick line for inspection.
“This is exactly the kind of contingency we drill every three months, and it helped us respond quickly,” a senior CMRL official told The New Indian Express.
Services on the parallel track continued uninterrupted, and full operations on the affected line resumed by 6.20am — ahead of the morning rush.
The incident drew attention to Chennai Metro’s emergency protocols at a time when the system is expanding further.