Green Line stretch sees disruption of metro services for 90 minutes

As trains had stopped at stations, there was no need for passengers to be evacuated

Signalling fault on the Green Line led to services between Yelachenahalli and Jayanagar being disrupted on Sunday.

Exactly one week after the newly inaugurated stretch of Namma Metro’s Green Line started ferrying passengers, a part of the line, and possibly the entire phase 1, saw the longest interruption of services on Sunday.

A signalling fault on the Green Line led to services between Yelachenahalli and Jayanagar being disrupted for one-and-a-half hours from 2 p.m. However, trains stopped at the stations and there was no need for passengers to be evacuated, an official from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) said.

As commuters waited anxiously for services to resume, they were offered a refund once officials realised that the problem would not be solved immediately.

During the stoppage, services were operated between National College and Nagasandra. According to a BMRCL statement, services resumed completely around 3.30 p.m. when trains started operating at a frequency of 10 minutes, which was then brought down to 8 minutes to clear the rush of passengers who chose to wait. “Those who wanted to get a refund for their tickets were given a refund,” the official said.

Technical problems have been dogging Namma Metro in the recent past as BMRCL geared up to open the final reaches of Phase I. At least four cases in the last month-and-a-half where services were partly disrupted across both Green and Purple lines had left passengers without trains.

However, Sunday’s incident was the first since the launch of services between Mantri Square Sampige Road and Yelachenahalli.

“The faults seem to be occurring in the past one to two months. The line was operating smoothly for quite some time before this. I hope they fix the problems soon as the metro is a very feasible option for commuting across the city,” said Arpita K., who lives near the Jayanagar station.

Commuters also expressed concern over such faults occurring while travelling underground. However, BMRCL said it has conducted several safety drills for this specific scenario.

Saturday saw highest ridership

On Saturday, Phase I of Namma Metro saw the highest ridership yet, with around 3.39 lakh passengers travelling between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. BMRCL is hoping to reach the target of 5 lakh daily ridership in two months. With more people taking the metro daily, the demand for higher frequency and additional coaches is increasing steadily.

The ridership on Sunday on both Green and Purple lines was 2,96,922.