A tweak in services on the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section of East-West Metro (Green Line) led to overcrowded trains and platforms on Monday.
The Esplanade-Mahakaran stretch of the west-bound (Howrah-bound) tunnel is off limits for commercial runs from Monday because the construction work in the tunnels connecting Esplanade and Sealdah has been expedited.
Two rakes are parked for the next fortnight in the Howrah-bound tunnel between Esplanade and Mahakaran. Two other rakes are being used for commercial runs — one on the west-bound tunnel between Mahakaran and Howrah Maidan and another on the east-bound tunnel (Salt Lake-bound) between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan.
The two rakes kept on standby will replace the ones operating now after a fortnight. The ones running now would need maintenance, said officials.
The system of keeping two rakes on standby in the west-bound tunnel will be in place for a couple of months, Metro sources said.
Earlier, the two rakes that ply on the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section were taken to the depot at Central Park for maintenance through the east-bound (Salt lake-bound) tunnel once every fortnight.
There is a provision for rakes to switch tracks beyond Howrah Maidan.
The trains have been parked because the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation — the implementing agency of the project — wants to expedite pending work in the tunnels. “The passage of trains through the east-bound tunnel hampers civil engineering work. We need the tunnels without any disturbance,” said an official.
It takes around 12 minutes for a train to reach Howrah Maidan from Esplanade.
Till now, the interval between two trains at the terminal stations was 12 minutes in the peak hours since a train each ran between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan on both tunnels.
The tweak means a passenger has to now wait for 24 minutes at Esplanade station for a train to Howrah Maidan or vice-versa.
Around 5.50pm on Monday, the platform for the east-bound tunnel at Esplanade was teeming with people. After a train arrived at 5.57pm, there was a mad rush. Some doors took time to close because passengers were sandwiched between them.
Inside the coach, it was worse, There was hardly an inch of space left to stand.
Sumit Debnath, who lives in Bally, left his Bhowanipore office around 5pm on Monday , an hour earlier than usual. He took a north-south (Blue Line) Metro to Esplanade and crossed over to the Green Line to take a Howrah-bound train.
“I was hoping to reach home much earlier than usual. But I had to wait for so long for a Howrah-bound train. I will miss the local train (that he was planning to board) from Howrah station,” said Debnath, who was not aware of the tweak.
Korak Basu, who lives in Howrah Maidan, is a daily commuter on this section. “I have rarely seen trains as crowded as they were from Esplanade today. The doors were not closing. The train I took was so packed from Esplanade itself that hardly any passenger could get on it at Mahakaran,” said Basu.
The authorities have started regular announcements on trains to inform passengers about the changes. Posters have been pasted on trains on the west-bound tunnel saying that it will end at Mahakaran. But on the first day of the tweak, many passengers were confused.
The carrier has increased the number of daily services to ease the rush. “We will run 150 services on weekdays in Green Line-2 instead of 118 services, till further notice. The services will be between 6.55am and 10pm, instead of 7am and 9.40pm,” said the Metro spokesperson.