Though the snag was detected at 6.14am, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited reached out to passengers by way of a post on ‘X’ only around 8.30am.Though announcements were made on trains and platforms after the snag was noticed, many passengers came to know about the disruptions only after landing on the platforms.
BMRCL is said to have not asked BMTC to run additional bus services following the disruptions, leaving commuters with little alternative options.
The disruptions saw trains moving slowly on the Byappanahalli-Garudacharpalya stretch, with the cascading effect spreading to other reaches on the line.
At Majestic interchange, passengers, including officegoers and students, faced severe inconvenience as hundreds of them stood crammed on the platform for a longer time as trains were running behind schedule. As boarding passengers stood cheek-by-jowl on the platforms, alighting passengers struggled hard to exit the station. Flare-ups, with commuters getting into arguments with Metro staff, were a common sight. People stranded at the stations complained that Metro authorities did not provide timely information about the delay.
Sudheendra, a passenger, said, “The train towards Whitefield moved very slowly and halted for a longer duration at every station. Passengers were clueless about the delay in services. Metro operations do see disruptions due to technical issues, but timely updates will help passengers look for alternative travel modes.”
Sowmya K, another passenger, said, “When there are major disruptions, there should be a mechanism to inform passengers prior to entering the station. This will help them look for other options. Allowing passengers to reach the platform and not updating them on what is happening is an annoying experience.”
BMRCL executive director Shankar AS told TOI the technical snag was detected at 6.14am and the problem fixed around 9.20am.
However, normal services were restored only at 11am. “It was a rare occurrence. Communication problems related to the signalling system were detected and our staff immediately attended to the issue. After fixing the problem, additional trains were operated to clear the rush at Majestic and other stations,” the official said.
A BMTC official said, “Usually, BMRCL asks us to opearate more buses whenever there are disruptions in services. However, on Tuesday, we did not receive any such communication.”
At least four disruptions have been reported in Namma Metro services this year owing to technical snags or people jumping on the track in the absence of platform screen doors. These disruptions are besides scheduled suspension of operations for maintenance works.
BMRCL’s chief PRO BL Yeshwanth Chavan said, “Whenever there are disruptions, we communicate and update people as per our standard operating procedures. We are exploring all possibilities on what better we can do about sharing information with passengers such as displaying information at the entry of stations and others.”