For the last two days, Metro Rail has been facing signalling issues, causing delay of trains from five to 10 minutes on different stretches.
“In some of the trips, the trains were delayed by nearly 10 minutes, in some cases by seven and eight minutes and nearly 20 trips by five minutes respectively. Towards the end of the day, the issue was resolved. These are fairly minor delays, which should not be happening,” a source said.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL), the signalling issue occurred but it was rectified at the earliest. “If any issue emerges, we immediately make sure to resolve it,” an official said.
Last month, there were a few minor technical glitches, like trains applying emergency brakes, resulting in some minor delays.
“People take the trains for travelling to work and to transport hubs like Central station and airport. So we cannot let them down by delaying their journey. Such recurring issues have to be sorted out soon, failing which we may lose some commuters,” an official said.
Nearly 95,000-97,000 commuters have been travelling on the Metro for the past week, a marginal dip from the previous month where more than one lakh passengers used the service. But the number of people travelling has definitely seen an upward trajectory when compared to last year. This is primarily because the maximum fare was brought down from ₹70 to ₹50 and a further 20% discount offered to smartcard holders and those who purchase QR Code tickets.
Also, the new stretch from Washermenpet to Wimco Nagar, opened in February, has been witnessing reasonable footfalls with nearly 12,000-13,000 passengers a day.
