Five-hour snag brings Metro to a halt again

KOLKATA: A technical snag that cut off power supply to the third rail severely affected Metro Railway services for nearly five hours on Monday evening. The spillover on the roads triggered massive traffic jams as thousands of daily commuters used to the comfort of a Metro ride had to jostle and elbow their way into crowded buses and run after taxis.
The first hint of trouble came at Esplanade station around 3.40 pm. The problem continued till late evening in the elevated Tollygunge (Mahanayak Uttam Kumar)-Garia Bazaar (Kavi Nazrul) route, reminding commuters along the newly-opened stretch of the life without the Metro. Normal services could finally be restored at 8.05 pm.
"Ever since the new stretch opened, we have got used to the comfort. After many months, we experienced that mad rush at the Tollygunge station to get a good' place in the auto-rickshaw queue. We could actually feel the auto-rickshaw drivers laughing behind our backs. Some of them even commented on how we have to fall back on them every time a snag occurs. A couple of them joked that it would serve us right if they charged us double the normal fare," said Kalyan Sarkar, a resident of Naktala.
Metro officials said that trouble first started at the Esplanade station at 3.40 pm. Services had to be stopped after power to the third rail snapped. Truncated services were run between Dum Dum and Girish Park and Kavi Nazrul and Maidan till 4.36 pm when the problem at Esplanade was rectified. Engineers and technical staff had barely got time to put away their tools when information came in of a similar problem at Tollygunge.
"At Mahanayak Uttam Kumar, the problem persisted from 4.38 pm to 6 pm. During this period, we ran services between Dum Dum and Maidan. We are aware of what the commuters went through. We tried to sort out the problem before evening peak hours but could not do so. Repeated announcements were made at stations to let commuters know of the trouble. After 6 pm, power returned at Mahanayak Uttam Kumar but supply to the stretch beyond remained cut off. This could be finally restored at 8.05 pm," a senior Metro official said.
Services have often been hampered due to technical snags in the obsolete rakes that the Metro has to run but this is probably the first time that commuters have suffered for so long due to such a problem. With officials not being able to get to the bottom of the matter till late in the night, Metro has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
Engineers examining the fault said it was strange that power tripped at one stretch after the other in quick succession.