CHENNAI: Metro rail passengers had a hard time after the operations were affected by a signalling problem on Saturday morning.
Metro rail officials said a glitch in the signalling system between Central Metro and
Arumbakkam metro station led to delay in trains arriving at the stations. “We restored it by afternoon,” an official said.
But the issue that lasted for half the day threw the train schedule out of gear putting commuters into a lot of inconvenience. “The trains were almost running at 30kmph. At times, the trains abruptly stopped, and the lights went off. I missed 30 minutes of the movie because of that,” said Pradeep K, who took a train from Nanganallur Road metro station to
Vadapalani.
Announcements were made at stations about the delay in schedule to alert the awaiting passengers. Commuters said while the trains were operated at a low speed between Airport and CMBT, the operations were normal from CMBT towards Central Metro. Air travellers who walked into the metro station from the terminal were in for a surprise as announcements being made said all trains are delayed.
Commuters got confused as announcement was being made saying train to AG DMS will start in six minutes but then the train reached in less than a minute, leading many to miss their service. There was mismatch in train schedule displayed on information boards on the platform.
At 8.30am, it was showing that train to DMS will reach in six minutes but it reached sooner and the display was changed to one minute soon after the train arrived.
A staff at the station said that trains were delayed because of a signalling fault. “Trains moved slow and we are held up midway on the AG DMS route in between stations to wait for the return train to pass.” said a passenger.
The staff also said though the signal snag was near Central it had an effect schedule across the network.
Metro rail (File Photo)