Many train time display boards went blank at Metro stations along the north-south corridor, or the Blue Line, for much of Monday.
The train time information boards (TTIB) usually display the destination and expected arrival timings of trains at a station. Throughout Monday, boards at several stations were just blank while some just showed what time it was.
Late into the evening, the display was back on some of the boards.
The glitch left most of the passengers confused about the arrival timing and destination of the trains.
The system that drives the display could not be synchronised to a tweak that the
carrier has been forced to introduce — one in three to four trains are terminating and originating from Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) station instead of Shahid Khudiram (Briji) station.
That tweak was a step that Metro officials hoped would ease some of the pressure that the carrier has been under since the suspension of commercial services at Kavi Subhash (New Garia) station following cracks in the platform pillars. Shahid Khudiram (Briji) is acting as the southern terminal for two in three trains. A delay in the reversal of rakes beyond Shahid Khudiram is having a cascading effect on the entire link, causing delays and overcrowding.
“We are trying to tune the operating system to the tweak...,” said the official.
The carrier has been making announcements about a train that is being terminated at Tollygunge station.
Truncated services
The services on the Blue Line were briefly disrupted on the first working day of the week following a technical glitch.
The problem was spotted near Noapara. A small section was isolated and the problem fixed. There was no train between Noapara and Dakshineswar for around 20 minutes from 12 noon.
Trains run between Girish Park and Shahid Khudiram, said an official.
The carrier has lately also been plagued by technical glitches.
The services on the Blue Line were disrupted for over an hour last Monday.
The technical problems are hurting more since the suspension of passenger services at New Garia.
