Many passengers travelling on Bengaluru Metro’s Purple Line were stranded for over an hour on Monday, February 7, after a technical glitch was reported on one of the metro trains. According to an official release, passengers travelling on four trains had to deboard and wait at the station to restore normalcy. The technical problem was reported at Magadi Road Metro Station at around 9.10 am.
In a release, the Chief Public Relations Officer of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited BMRCL) said, “One train set developed technical problem at Magadi Road Metro Station at around 9.10 am today and resultantly passenger de-boarding of 4 trains (3 in the up direction (towards Baiyappanahalli) at MG Road, (for train Balancing), Magadi Road (Faulty Train) and Vijayanagar (for train Balancing) and one in the down direction (towards Kengeri) at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station, Majestic (for clearing crowd) was done.”
Metro train operations on the Purple Line were restored by 10.30 am on Monday, the BMRCL added.
The Purple Line of the Bengaluru Metro runs between Kengeri and Baiyappanahalli, and routine maintenance work has been carried out over the past few months. The metro, which had been running for a limited duration owing to the lockdown imposed during the third wave, has resumed regular operations since the weekend and night curfews were lifted and is seeing a gradual increase in passengers as well.
Last year in August, an extended stretch of the Purple Line to Kengeri — a 7.5 km-stretch connecting Musuru Road to the Kengeri metro station — was inaugurated. With this extension, which is an elevated section, six stations were added to the line — Nayandanahalli, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Jnanabharathi, Pattanagere, Kengeri Bus Terminal and Kengeri Metro Stations, beyond the Mysuru Road metro station. With this, the line which was previously 18.1 km long, became 25.6 km long.
The Purple Line or east-west corridor of Bengaluru Metro now runs through a total of 23 stations, between Kengeri and Baiyappanahalli, making travel easier for those going towards Kengeri and areas like Nelamangala and Tavarekere, which are outside the city. Construction on the extended section had begun in February 2016. A further 2 km extension of the line from Kengeri to Challaghatta is expected to be completed in 2022 or 2023.
The other metro line — Green Line — connects the Nagasandra and Silk Institute metro stations. Namma Metro is the third biggest metro network in the country.