Metro services were disrupted in the early hours of Thursday as a road-cum-rail battery loco derailed. Commuters had to find their own way to their offices. Services were back to normal only after 10 am.
Around 6 am a gliding wheel of a road-cum-rail battery loco derailed, triggering the problem, according to officials of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). About 10,000 people travel in the peaks hours between 8 am and 10 pm.
“It was nothing major; just a gliding wheel got derailed. Not much passenger traffic was impacted as the passenger volume increases after 8 am. The disruption of metro services was between 6 am and 8 am. The locomotive derailed on the up line between Swami Vivekananda Road and Indiranagar stations. It happened during the testing on the main tracks,” said the BMRCL spokesperson.
Single-line services started on the down-line, that is, between MG Road and Byapanahalli, and normal services were restored on both the lines after 10 am. But many office goers were stranded at the stations when it was announced that there was no train service before 8 am.
“I reside in Koramangala and my office is in KR Puram. A part of my journey to office is on the metro. While I commute on BMTC bus to MG Road, I take Namma Metro to travel up to Byapanahalli to avoid traffic. From there again I take bus or auto to office. But Thursday was different. When I reached the metro station at around 7.30 am there was no service so I had to take an auto to KR Puram,” said a regular commuter of Namma Metro, Ravi Kumar.