Delays, short-termination: Not a smooth ride on first couple of days of full metro services
Times of India | 27 August 2025
Kolkata: The Green Line and Blue Line timetables malfunctioned on Monday and Tuesday evenings as operators were unable to close the doors of overcrowded trains. On the Yellow Line, services remained erratic throughout the day.
Office returnees crowded the platforms and hurried to secure a foothold each time a train arrived from either Sector V or Howrah Maidan end of the Green Line. The technologically advanced BEML-make trains operating on the Green Line can only restart when the doors and platform screen doors are aligned.
After 6.30 pm, the trains operated under "dense crush load" (when eight people are on board per square metre), causing motormen to be unable to proceed after boarding passengers on already overloaded trains. | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in Kolkata"The six elevated stations, except the busy Sector V station, did not have many passengers waiting on the platform in the evening. However, overcrowded stations like Mahakaran disrupted the entire evening schedule. Trains were delayed by 2-5 minutes due to the ripple effect on the operations of the entire corridor," an official said.
The situation was similar on the Blue Line, or the North-South corridor, which now operates a truncated Dakshineswar-Shahid Khudiram stretch with 25 stations. The corridor has become overcrowded as it interfaces with Noapara station (Yellow Line, across the new Noapara-Jai Hind stretch) and Esplanade, where it meets the Green Line. Several south-bound trains short-terminated at the Tollygunge station. Passengers headed to Shahid Khudiram were asked to get down at Tollygunge and take the next train while the first train changed tracks for a journey back to Dakshineswar. At Jessore Road station, escalators were not operational for the entire day. Fortunately, delay is the only result of the overcrowding on Green Line rakes, which are equipped to handle the extra load. "They also have an anti-drag-in feature. Whenever a saree or dupatta is caught between the doors, emergency brakes will be applied automatically," an engineer said.
Yellow Line commuters were unprepared for the prolonged wait soon after the launch. On Tuesday morning, Prerana Das, a Dum Dum Cantonment resident interning at New Town's Ecospace, said: "I reached the station at 9.27 am to find the scheduled train cancelled. The next service at 9.37 am was also scrapped. The train finally arrived at 9.47 am. I could have reached Dum Dum Gate No.1 by auto and boarded a bus to the office.
"Soumitra Ghosh, 27, a Diamond Harbour resident who works at the airport, echoed: "I came to Dum Dum Cantonment on a local train for the 9.18 am metro. I finally got one at 9.37 am. I may return to my earlier routine of taking a local train to Dum Dum station and a bus to the airport," he said.
Joydeep Das posted on Facebook: "Kolkata Metro's Yellow Line service needs to improve immediately. From 10.20 am there is no metro at Dum Dum Cantonment till 10.45 am.
"Passengers from Dakshineswar to the airport had to wait at Baranagar before switching to the Yellow Line through Noapara. Airport-bound trains heading toward Shahid Khudiram also faced prolonged waits at Noapara before switching to the Blue Line. On Tuesday, many south-bound trains short-terminated at Tollygunge station.