Metro services on the north-south corridor — the Blue Line — were disrupted for over an hour on the first working day of the week, tormenting tens of thousands of passengers during the office rush.
A Shahid Khudiram (Briji)-bound train was stranded at Kavi Nazrul (Garia Bazar) station following a technical glitch. The glitch was reported around 8.20am, said a Metro official. As a result, train services were suspended between Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) and Shahid Khudiram, the southern terminal of the Blue Line.
The next Shahid Khudiram-bound train finally left Tollygunge around 9.25am. From Shahid Khudiram, the first Dakshineswar-bound train left at 9.54am, said the official. “Trains could not run between Tollygunge and Shahid Khudiram for over an hour. Truncated services were run between Tollygunge and Dakshineswar in both directions,” the Metro official said.
The Blue Line, the oldest and most populous Metro link, has been under tremendous pressure for the past month. Delays in trains and overcrowding have been plaguing the link.
Cracks in platform pillars forced Metro authorities to suspend passenger services at Kavi Subhash (New Garia), the usual southern terminal of the Blue Line, on July 28. Until the station undergoes an exhaustive raze-and-rebuild job, Shahid Khudiram will serve as the southern terminal.
The absence of a reversal point — where a train can switch tracks — at Shahid Khudiram is causing a delay in the turnaround time for trains after crossing the station. A train is taking longer than the usual time to change tracks. That is having a cascading effect on the entire corridor.
The problem grew in size after the commissioning of three new links, especially the full stretch of the East-West corridor — the Green Line.
During the disruption on Monday, several passengers alleged being stranded on trains or at platforms between Tollygunge and Dakshineswar.
“I boarded a train from Baranagar at 10.32am. It took me around 45 minutes to reach Esplanade. When I landed, it was 11.15am. The usual time needed is less than 30 minutes. The train stopped longer than usual at almost every station in between. The doors were not closing at one go because of overcrowding,” said Asish Guha, who works at a retail store in the New Market area.
The disruption in Metro services led to more pressure on the roads. Streams of passengers kept coming out of Metro stations to avail other modes of transport. Some of them hopped into already-crowded buses. App cabs charged steep fares.
“I found an app cab after a 12-minute wait. I was late for a meeting at work,” said Shilpi Das, who had to come out of Masterda Surya Sen (Bansdroni) station because of the disruption. Her office is near Jeevandeep or the Maidan Metro station.
The carrier has introduced a series of tweaks to combat the rush on the Blue Line, like separating the fleet for the Yellow Line (Noapara-Jai Hind) and the Blue Line and revamping the Tollygunge car shed.