Snag hits Purple Line, slows down trains

BENGALURU: Namma Metro services on Purple Line were disrupted for about an hour on Tuesday due to a technical snag, with trains running at slower speeds.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) officials say services between Mysuru Road and Byappanahalli stations were affected from 11:24am to 12:25pm.
BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer B L Yashavanth Chavan said they had cancelled four round trips between Mysuru Road and Byappanahalli during the period."Trains running between Mysuru Road and Byappanahalli stations were regulated with restricted speed for period from 5 to 20 minutes. Normal train services were restored as per schedule at 12:25pm," he said.
BMRCL managing director Ajay Seth told TOI that there was a communication problem with Operations Control Centre that resulted in the snag.
Several commuters who faced hardship took to Twitter and complained of delays. Siddhu Koujalagi, a passenger tweeted: “Major technical problem today. Slower than a passenger train, from Hosahalli station to Trinity 40 minutes, normally it takes around 18 minutes. No 6 coach trains in service today, as far as I know, no prior information provided at the stations about this delay/problem (sic)”. Another passenger Ravi Gowda wrote: “NammaMetro worst services again and again... when there is a issue please inform to passengers.. At least they can take some other transport...(sic)”.
Many passengers complained that BMRCL didn’t inform about the snag on the social media. Prasanna tweeted: “Any problems in the functioning of namma metro today? @cpronammametro is on radio silence #fail”.
Last month, Metro services on Metro’s Purple Line were hit on December 12 and 13 due to repair work at Trinity station and on December 23 due to power failure. Services between MG Road and Indiranagar stations (on Purple Line) were suspended from 8pm on December 28 to December 31, during the repair works at Trinity station. However, BMRCL officials said Tuesday’s snag had nothing to do with the viaduct flaw at Trinity station.