Over the past three weeks, at least five technical snags have seen the city’s Namma Metro come to a grinding halt. Since May 15, metro trains have been halted owing to “technical snags” for periods ranging from 10 minutes to over an hour.
Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) Pradeep Singh Kharola said these snags are part of the learning curve for their workers. “There is an Emergency Trip Switch (ETS), which when triggered, can bring the whole system to a halt. It takes time to resume this. Our workers have accidentally triggered this on the line when they were working,” he said.
The recent technical snag, however, on the M.G. Road stretch raises concern. Mr. Kharola said heavy rains saw water leaking into the cables— or, perhaps, the shorting of the wire by lightning — and this lead to metro services coming to a halt.
The concern over water leakage has been pointed out by the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety, who had suggested rectifying this and 64 other conditions, while giving BMRCL the approval to operate the entire Phase I stretch.
Water seepage was visible in the lower platforms of the Kempegowda Interchange which was inspected by Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George on Sunday.
Officials, however, said spots where leakages occur are being identified, water being forced out of them, and then being “grouted” with chemicals to stop the leakages.
