BENGALURU: Thousands of Namma Metro commuters were stranded during Tuesday evening peak hours after a train developed a technical snag at the Cubbon Park Metro Station on the Purple Line, disrupting services across the underground section and causing severe inconvenience to passengers.
A commuter, who was onboard the snag-hit train, told TNIE that the train reached the Cubbon Park station around 6.30 pm, but remained stationary with its doors closed for nearly 15 minutes. He alleged that the passengers were left without any information on the disruption for a long time, leading to panic and discomfort.
“The train was jam-packed and it was suffocating inside. We were not informed about the issue immediately and had to wait for nearly 40 minutes before the announcement was made,” he said.
Passengers claimed that the technical problem was related to the train drawing power. The incident occurred during peak hours when the train frequency on the Purple Line is typically three to four minutes and coaches are usually overcrowded. The disruption had a cascading effect on services at all underground stations along the Purple Line and passengers were stranded at multiple stations.
Metro entry gates shut, leads to traffic jams
After making the announcement, commuters were asked to evacuate the stations. The entry gates were subsequently closed, leading to crowding outside stations and traffic congestion in surrounding areas.
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd issued a statement, saying that a technical fault had been noticed in one of the trains at the Cubbon Park Metro Station and the operations and maintenance teams were attending to the issue on priority.
Train services short-looped between Magadi Road and Challaghatta, and between MG Road and Whitefield (Kadugodi). Later, from 8 pm onwards, services were further curtailed to operate only between Indiranagar and Whitefield (Kadugodi), and Magadi Road and Challaghatta.
From 9 pm, the Metro services were partially restored between Challaghatta and Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station (Majestic). While services on other lines remained unchanged.
BMRCL said efforts were under way to restore normal services at the earliest and regretted the inconvenience caused to commuters.