BENGALURU:The brakes of a Metro train got stuck at the R V Road station on Sunday morning forcing officials to stop operations temporarily on one section of Metro’s Green Line. Over 500 passengers were made to alight at the station and their journey was delayed by 20 minutes. As a cascading effect, the trips of the next two trains heading in the direction of the Kempe Gowda Metro station got delayed.
The incident occurred at 11.36 am just as the train was about to depart from RV Road station towards the Jayanagar Metro station, said a senior Metro official.
The affected train was steered in the reverse direction using the rear engine to Yelachenahalli and brought back to the station after rectifying the problem.L Suryanarayana Murthy, who was on board the train, told The New Indian Express, “We were all suddenly asked to alight from the train just when it was about to depart. There were no announcements made on the public system. But Metro staff told us that the train suffered a mechanical failure.”
The empty train was steered in the reverse direction and returned nearly 20 minutes later. “Many commuters at the station were angry about not knowing when their journey would resume.”The train with passengers left at 11.56 am. “By that time, a large number of commuters had turned up at RV Road station. Platforms on the six stations up to Kempe Gowda Metro station were flooded with waiting passengers too and there was a mad rush to board this train,” Murthy added. A S Shankar, executive director, Operations and Maintenance, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited, confirmed the incident.
Loco pilot realised brakes could not be released, says A S Shankar
A S Shankar, executive director, Operations and Maintenance, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited said, “The train was not moving despite the pressure applied by the loco pilot. He realised that the brakes could not be released. The operations are automated and so it cannot be set right by him. Since the train had to travel a long distance (up to Nagasandra), officials decided to take the train to the nearest station Puttenahalli using the other engine.” After reaching Puttenahalli, the brakes were released manually and the train was brought back to RV Road station, he explained. “A detailed analysis of the reasons for the brake jamming will be carried out at night after operations stop,” he added. One Metro train was delayed by 10 minutes at Banashankari Metro station while another was delayed by 6.5 minutes at JP Nagar Metro station, said BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer U A Vasanth Rao.