Last week, the number of passengers travelling in Chennai Metro crossed one lakh, seeing a significant rise with the opening of the phase I extension project from Washermanpet to Wimco Nagar and cutting down on fares. At a time when the system was seeing a positive growth in ridership, there were some technical glitches which occurred quite a few times last month.
Sources in the Chennai Metro Rail project said trains applied emergency brakes too often near stations such as Vadapalani, Little Mount, Arumbakkam, Koyambedu and Alandur. This had occurred owing to issues in the signalling software, sources said.
“The result is the trains will be delayed by five to ten minutes in some stations. While this may not be seen as a pressing issue as the staff somehow make up for it and maintain the train schedule following such incidents, this should be solved at the earliest. This apart, there are also bunching of trains at times which means, many trains keep continuously arriving in one side, while on the other, passengers have to wait to board a single train. This is also owing to signalling issues and will be ironed out soon,” a source said.
N. Jambukeswaran, a commuter, who frequently travels from the Nanganallur to LIC station, said he had noticed the signalling issues. “I noticed a bunch of trains arriving from Wimco Nagar and Chennai Central as I wait at Nanganallur, while there are barely any from Chennai airport to Wimco Nagar in the morning. While the reduction in fares has been very beneficial for commuters like me, it is essential that they fix these issues at the earliest,” he said.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL), they have taken corrective action and a revised software has been loaded to tackle the emergency brake issues. “We will ensure passengers are not put through any inconvenience,” an official said.
