BENGALURU: Metro operations came to an abrupt halt between MG Road and Indira Nagar stations on the Purple Line during peak evening hour on Sunday, as a tree fell on the rail tracks due to heavy rain.
Train ops were halted at 7.26 pm, between the two points (which cover four stations), while short loop trains were run covering the two ends of the Purple Line.
Both the Fire department and the BBMP were trying to remove the tree from the tracks late Sunday night.
Halasuru and Trinity stations figure between M G Road and Indira Nagar stations.
“A train operator spotted the fallen tree on the tracks, as he was departing Trinity Metro station towards MG Road. He did not move the train and alerted the station controller. The passengers were deboarded at the station itself,” Chief Public Relations Officer, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), BL Yashavanth Chavan told TNIE.
Short loop trains were operated between Indira Nagar and Whitefield on one end and MG Road and Challaghatta on the other. “It will take 2-3 hours to clear the tree. Heavy rain is also delaying the process. After the tree is removed, we need to take stock of the damage to the tracks and then consider the safety angle, which is paramount for us. Only after safety tests are done, can we resume operations along this stretch. We are doing our best to restore it at the earliest,” he added.
It is still unclear if trains will run along this stretch on Monday morning when operations commence at 5 am. “We have the full night ahead of us. We are hopeful of restoring normal operations by Monday morning. We will issue an update late at night if there will be any change in that,” BMRCL MD Maheshwar Rao said.
AS Shankar, Executive Director, Operations and Maintenance, BMRCL, said, “The train had just left Trinity station when the train operator noticed the fallen tree. The rear end of the train was still near the platform. He just reversed the train a little and passengers ended up alighting at the platform only. There was another train about to start from the MG Road Metro station and staff at Trinity station alerted the train operator not to run that train and passengers were made to alight at the station there. Neither of the trains were stuck midway and so no passenger had to alight along the tracks or use the walkway.”