Thousands of office-goers and other early morning travellers faced delays on Tuesday after operations on a key section of the Kolkata Metro were disrupted for close to an hour, officials said.
The disruption occurred on the heavily used Dakshineswar-Shahid Khudiram corridor, one of the busiest stretches of the city’s rapid transit network, during peak commuting hours.
According to a Metro Railway official, the problem stemmed from a power supply fault that developed in a train while it was moving between Netaji Bhavan and Rabindra Sadan stations, according to a report by news agency PTI.
The issue led to the train coming to an unscheduled halt, resulting in interruptions to services along the route. As a precautionary measure, train movements on the affected section were regulated while technical teams assessed and addressed the fault.
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The official said that passenger safety was prioritised immediately after the disruption. Commuters who were on the stalled train were assisted by Metro staff and were safely escorted out. They were then taken to Netaji Bhavan station, from where they could continue their journeys once services resumed. No injuries were reported during the evacuation process, the official added, as per the report.
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The temporary suspension of normal operations caused inconvenience to passengers, many of whom were travelling to work, schools and other commitments during the busy morning window. Platforms at several stations witnessed crowding as trains were delayed or temporarily held back until the issue was resolved.
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Metro authorities worked to restore normalcy as quickly as possible, and after the power supply problem was rectified, services gradually returned to schedule. Full operations on the affected stretch were restored at 8:46 am, bringing relief to stranded commuters.
(With inputs from PTI)
