BENGALURU: A nightmare awaited hundreds of Metro commuters on the Northern stretch of the Green Line (North-South Corridor) on Tuesday morning as train operations which commence at 5 am never started due to the derailment of an inspection vehicle in the wee hours. As a cascading effect, every station on this line was crowded with the usually crowded Interchange station at Kempegowda Metro station bursting at its seams.
Executive Director, Operations and Maintenance, A S Shankar told TNIE, “One of the wheels of a rail -cum-road vehicle used in inspection and which carries out maintenance works got derailed around 2.30 am today on the tracks between Rajaji Nagar and Mahakavi Kuvempu Road Metro station. Hence, few train services in the morning on the Green Line between Yesvantpur and Mantri Square Sampige Road could not be operated.” Services were restored later between Rajaji Nagar to Yesvantpur, he added.
The work of re-railing the vehicle on to the tracks has been on since morning.
Doors of Metro stations were shut with no prior intimation provided outside the stations or announcements at platforms in the initial hours. The Chief Public Relations Officer posted on X about the disruption around 5.28 am.
“Train services will be available between Nagasandra to Yeshwanthpur and Mantri Square Sampige Road to Silk Institute Metro station due to a technical snag at Rajaji Nagar Metro station.” In another tweet later, he added, single line operations are being done between Yeshwantpur and Mantri Square Sampige Road Metro stations to reduce inconvenience to metro passengers.
The sudden closure and the lack of adequate dissemination of information invited public ire.
Among the thousands impacted by the issue were Prathap Unnikrishnan, a resident of Nagasandra, who drove his car to three stations to help his son board a train to college. “My son, a first-year engineering student usually takes the 7.15 am metro service from Nagasandra Metro station to National College station. We found the station shut at Nagasandra, then we went to Gorguntapalaya which was also closed. A security staffer told us that trains were not running there and to try from Yeshwantpur. We went by car till Mantri Sampige station and I made him board the train there post 7.45 pm.”
Unnikrishnan added, “I still do not know whether he reached college and was able to attend his first session.”
Among those upset were Venky who posted on X, "Isn’t this a public service broadcast? Shouldn’t it have timings of likely length of closure n likely restoration time? Doesn’t the metro tpt (transport) 6 lakh ppl daily? Surely, they need to plan their daily travel."