The timetable of the north-south Metro (Blue Line) — once known for its reliability — has been thrown into disarray by the indefinite shutdown of Kavi Subhash (New Garia), the southern terminal.
Several trains have been running behind schedule daily. The stops at stations have grown unusually longer. During rush hours, on overcrowded trains, the problem is amplified.
A Metro official linked the delay to a tweak forced by the shutdown, following cracks in the platform pillars of Kavi Subhash. Since July 28, when commercial services to the station were suspended, Shahid Khudiram (Briji), the station before, has been acting as the new southern terminal.
“The crossover point, where trains can switch tracks, has been changed. A Kavi Subhash-bound train is now switching to the Dakshineswar-bound tracks at a new spot, beyond Shahid Khudiram station. Until a train has switched tracks, the train behind cannot enter the Down (New Garia-bound) platform of Shahid Khudiram. That is causing a pile-up,” said a Metro spokesperson.
While Shahid Khudiram is an elevated station, Kavi Subhash is on the surface. The gradient or slope of the tracks between the two stations has compounded the problem.
Earlier, a train would drop passengers at Kavi Subhash and then move further south beyond the platform, towards the carshed, before switching tracks. The train would then move into the Up (Dakshineswar-bound) platform at the station, pick up passengers, and continue its northward journey. The train behind chugged into the Down platform of New Garia station after the empty train in front moved towards the carshed. It did not have to wait until the switchover was complete.
However, since July 28, a train has not chugged into the Down platform of Shahid Khudiram unless the train in front of it has switched tracks. As a result, the trains behind have also been held up. A spiralling effect has thrown the entire schedule haywire.
A regular Metro passenger boarded a train from Chandni Chowk around 9.35pm on Thursday. He got off at Kavi Nazrul (Garia Bazar) after 10.30pm, more than 20 minutes late.
“The train went fine till Kalighat. But then, it moved unusually slowly, stopping at almost every station longer than usual. At Geetanjali (Naktala), the train was stuck for around 10 minutes,” he said. The usual time is around one minute.
A woman took a train from Esplanade around 6pm last Wednesday.
She reached Geetanjali after almost 40 minutes, more than 10 minutes late.
“There is no parity between the timings displayed on the platform and the actual time a train enters the station,” said a man who boards from Kalighat and gets off at MG Road.
“More than once, a train arrives four to five minutes late, just before the scheduled arrival of the next train,” said the passenger.
This newspaper reported that a solution is already in the works. A new crossover point is coming up at Shahid Khudiram station. It will need signalling, electrical, and engineering work. It is expected to take around one month, said the spokesperson.
Sources in the carrier said a stopgap solution has also been planned.
A section of the New Garia-bound trains will switch tracks from Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) station and move towards Dakshineswar. The remaining will go till Shahid Khudiram, the sources said. Tollygunge, the former terminal station in the south, is on the surface and has a provision for trains to change directions.