Thousands suffer as technical snag hits metro's Purple Line in Bengaluru

Thousands of metro passengers faced hardship on Tuesday as train services on the Purple Line were disrupted for several hours due to signalling issues. 

While trains ran late between Kengeri and Indiranagar, no service was available to SV Road and Baiyappanahalli for nearly eight hours. 

The disruption was the consequence of overnight power supply works undertaken at the Baiyappanahalli station to link it to the KR Pura-Whitefield section. The 2.1-km Baiyappanahalli-KR Pura section is the missing link on the Purple Line and could open next month. 

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"The overnight work could not be completed, causing repercussions on train services," A S Shankar, Executive Director (Operations and Maintenance), Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), told DH. 

B L Yashavanth Chavan, Chief Public Relations Officer, BMRCL, said: "We had to replace the electric traction systems at Baiyappanahalli and instal new ones. This took time." 

The problem arose when metro services opened at 5 am. However, its full effects began only at 7 am, as the morning rush hour kicked in. 

Things reached a crescendo around 9 am as office-goers, students and others streamed into metro stations to travel to Whitefield and the eastern suburbs. 

The worst-hit station was Majestic, which connects the Purple and Green lines. 

A Basavanagudi resident headed to Cubbon Park said she had to skip six trains because there was absolutely no space to get in. Frustrated passengers stormed out of the Majestic station after waiting for trains. 

The public address system didn't improve things. Train display boards at many stations were blank while others showed inaccurate timings. 

At Majestic, the board showed that a train towards MG Road would arrive in 30 minutes but it came within eight minutes, another passenger said. 

This was because BMRCL ran short-loop services between Majestic and MG Road until peak hours, Chavan said. According to him, services were late and slow because they had to avoid train bunching. 

After rush hour, the BMRCL ran 15 trainsets at the scheduled frequency — 10-12 minutes between Kengeri and Mysuru Road, 8 minutes between Mysuru Road and Majestic, and 5 minutes between Majestic and Indiranagar. However, trains from Kengeri were terminated at Indiranagar, and commuters had to make other arrangements to travel to SV Road and Baiyappanahalli. 

'Take the bus'

Travellers arriving at Baiyappanahalli were sent away by guards and asked to take the bus. 

Many passengers said they were late for work. A software engineer at Baiyappanahalli complained that he had missed most of his important meetings, which might have put his work on the line. 

Passengers spilled over on already congested roads, causing a shortage of autos and cabs. Many had to rely on crowded buses. 

Just before noon, authorities restored the service from Indiranagar to Baiyappanahalli while the Baiyappanahalli-Indiranagar section became operational at 12.08 pm. 

Even after train services were restored, passengers complained of poor frequency and increased travel times.