The Metro Railway Kolkata authorities have short-terminated the journey of several trains from Dakshineswar in the extreme north up to Tollygunje station in the south to ensure the frequency of train services.

A Metro spokesperson said on Tuesday, the steps were necessitated as trains from Dakshineswar/Dumdum on the blue (Dakshineswar-Garia) corridor are now using Sahid Khudiram (Birji) station as the new terminal point in view of the suspension of services from Kavi Subhas station where cracks appeared on the pillars of the UP line.

"Due to no facility of changing tracks from UP to DN lines at Sahid Khudiram, trains from Dakshineswar were being taken to under-repair Kavi Subhash after deboarding the passengers at the earlier station and coming back to Sahid Khudiram to pick up waiting passengers for the onward journey towards Dakshineswar/Dumdum,” he said.

This was causing a pile-up of one train after another during the process of changeover of tracks and led to an overall delay of 15 minutes or more, affecting services in both UP and DN sections, he said.

"As we are committed to ensuring five-minute frequency in train services, it has been decided to short-terminate some of the trains from Dakshineswar up to Mahanayak Uttam Kumar station, while other trains are going up to Sahid Khudiram," he explained.

Asked how many trains are going up to Tollygunje and how many up to Birji, he said, "There is no exact number. We are taking decisions depending on the situation, but before the journey from Dakshineswar or Dumdum in the north, the passengers are being informed by the public address system, and during the journey." From August 25, 284 trains are being run in the Blue Corridor on weekdays, up from 262 earlier.

The spokesperson said the decision to short-terminate some trains was taken before effecting the rise in the number of services in the Blue Corridor as there was feedback that the pile up of trains was somehow affecting frequency between trains and affecting commuters.

The Kavi Subhas (New Garia) Metro station in Blue Line is under renovation and overhaul after cracks were spotted in some pillars of the UP line about a month back. The Metro Railways said it would take nine months to complete the work and make it the terminal station in the Blue Line again.

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