Commuters in Kolkata faced a rude awakening on the first Monday of the New Year as a significant technical snag brought a key section of the metro to a halt for over an hour. The disruption, which began at 7:38 am, severely impacted the morning rush hour, leaving students and office workers stranded and scrambling for alternatives.
Morning Commute Thrown into Disarray
The problem affected services on the crucial north-south corridor. Trains were not running between the new terminal, Shahid Khudiram (Briji) station, and Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) station. This left those needing to travel the length of the city from the southern fringes to the north in a major lurch.
One affected commuter, Monimoy Ghosh, a resident of Patuli on EM Bypass, shared his ordeal. "Around 7:30 am, I went to Shahid Khudiram station with my son, Arko, only to discover that there was no train," he said. "Nobody seemed to know what was wrong or when services would resume. My son and I took an auto to Tollygunge. It was torture boarding a metro from Tollygunge to Netaji Bhavan to get my child to school. The train was so crowded that we somehow found ourselves pushed into the coach."
Official Response and Cascading Delays
The Metro Railway authorities issued a statement around 9:40 am, clarifying the situation. It stated, "After a brief technical issue, normal services resumed from 8:39 am. In the meantime, truncated services were operated from Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) to Dakshineswar in both directions."
However, the troubles for commuters were not entirely over. Adding to the day's woes, another train got stuck on the Dakshineswar-bound tracks at Kalighat station around 12:40 pm. Commuters reported that services resumed after about 10 minutes. While the non-peak hour prevented severe crowding, the delay had a cascading effect on the schedule. A Metro spokesperson later clarified, "The train was detained for 7 minutes. It was a temporary technical issue."
Commuters Highlight Systemic Issues
The disruption sparked frustration among daily passengers who pointed to recurring problems. Satadru Hazra, a PWD worker and Kudghat resident, voiced common grievances. "Either there is a technical issue or a suicide to halt services for at least an hour on average," he said. He criticized the unreliable timetable and the prolonged impact of the closure of the old terminal, Kavi Subhash station.
Hazra highlighted a key infrastructure gap, noting, "Metro Railway then (July, last year) announced that the station would be opened in 9 months. Let alone start work to repair the station. The authorities are yet to build the crossover at the new Shahid Khudiram station to ensure trains arrive on time and do not take the prolonged exercise of going up to the now-shut Kavi Subhash station to switch tracks." This missing infrastructure, according to commuters, contributes significantly to delays and operational inefficiencies on the Blue Line.
