Once known for clockwork precision, the Metro Blue Line schedule has gone off the track.

Trains in the New Garia-Dakshineswar line are running behind schedule and are frequently getting cancelled. Passengers alleged that some trains are so crowded, even in non-peak hours, that it becomes difficult to board or get off. Snags are recurrent, and passengers alleged a lack of proper announcements when trains are delayed or
cancelled.

The Blue Line was thrown into complete disarray after commercial operations were suspended at Kavi Subhash (New Garia) on July 28 this year, due to cracks in the platform pillars. Delays and disruptions reached gargantuan proportions in the immediate aftermath of the suspension of operations at the southern terminal of the city’s most popular Metro link.

Metro authorities had announced some steps to alleviate delays and interruptions. But they have hardly been effective.

Last Wednesday afternoon, a commuter entered the Kalighat station platform to catch a train to Chandni Chowk.

“The display board showed the Dakshineswar-bound train was scheduled at 3.35pm. It was 3.33pm when I entered the platform, and one train had just left, which means the previous train was late,” said the commuter.

“The next train was due to come after 11 minutes. The train was already crowded. By the time it reached Rabindra Sadan, there was hardly any place to stand. But people still kept sneaking in. I could not get down at Chandni Chowk and instead went to Central station,” said the man. He took a train back to Chandni Chowk.

Another regular passenger, who lives in New Barrackpore, shared a similar experience. His daughter studies in a school in central Calcutta. He takes a suburban train to Dum Dum and then a Metro to drop off his daughter at school every morning. He returns in the same way, a Metro to Dum Dum and then a suburban train to New Barrackpore.

“On my way back, I usually take a train from Chandni Chowk around 7.45am. On two days in the past week, the train came around 7.55am. If I miss the 7.45am train, I also miss a local train from Dum Dum. The entire journey home gets delayed by almost 40 minutes,” said the man.

A Gariahat resident who studies at a Park Street College would take the Metro almost daily. “A couple of months ago, I changed to other modes of transport because the trains get delayed and so the compartments are overcrowded and I feel uncomfortable,” said the girl who studies in her second year.

Blue Line trains are now being terminated at Shahid Khudiram (Briji) in the south. An empty train is still switching tracks at New Garia station, but not at the usual place. Now, a train has to move back to switch tracks. For that, a block has to be taken, and trains behind are held up. That is having a cascading effect on the corridor.

So much so that Metro has removed the earlier Blue timetable from its website.

According to officials, a new timetable is being prepared.

Some south-bound trains are also being terminated at Tollygunge, from where they resume their Dakshineswar-bound trip.

Before July 28, trains would switch directions at a Y-siding near the car shed at New Garia. Trains switched tracks as they moved forward, and no block was needed behind.

“During Durga Puja, to manage the tremendous rush, we went back to the old system. Trains switched tracks from the old spot. We had conducted detailed safety checks at the site before the tweak. But it paid off, and we managed the rush without any big problem,” said a Metro official.

The carrier is mulling a return to the old system till a viable alternative comes up, said sources.

The authorities were earlier keen on setting up a new rake reversal point at Shahid Khudiram. But that seems to have been put on hold for now.

A raze-and-rebuild job at Garia, set to take around a year, is not beginning this year either.

“The agency tasked with designing the new (Dakshineswar-bound) platform at New Garia has not yet submitted the final design. It is expected to be tabled by the end of this year. Once the design comes, it has to be validated by our experts,” said Subhransu Sekhar Mishra, the Metro general manager.

The reversal point at Shahid Khudiram will be set up just before the renovation at New Garia begins, said Metro officials.