Kolkata: Services along the Blue (North-South) Line were disrupted for 80 minutes because of a technical snag at Dakshineswar station on Wednesday.
Truncated services were run between Noapara and Shahid Khudiram stations.
The glitch was spotted on a Dakshineswar-bound line just as a train was entering the northern terminal (Dakshineswar) station around 1 pm on Wednesday.
"There was a problem with the points on the Up (Dakshineswar-bound) line around 1 pm. The train stopped while entering Dakshineswar station. It was brought to Baranagar station and turned to the down (Shahid Khudiram bound) line," a Metro spokesperson said. Normal services along the entire Blue Line were restored at 2.20 pm, the official said.
Even though it was outside peak hours, several passengers – especially Puja shoppers who were trying to come to the city's central business district from the northern suburbs – were inconvenienced.
"Every day there is some problem or the other on the metro. We want to go to Esplanade and then to New Market for shopping. Now, we don't know how to travel the distance, in this heat and the ongoing traffic congestion," said Rupali Bhowmik, a resident of Bally.
She tried in vain to take a bus but changed her mind after waiting half an hour. "My children cannot withstand the heat and back-breaking bus journey. It's best to abort our plans because the metro doesn't seem to be resuming services anytime soon. There are no announcements. Maybe we can return tomorrow or the day after and manage to do our shopping if we are lucky to get a normal metro run," Bhowmik added.
Only on Monday, Metro services on the Blue Line were partially disrupted for an hour in the morning after a rake developed a snag at Kavi Nazrul station. On Wednesday, thousands of others were affected as very little alternate means of transportation is available on the northern fringes. "I think I will take a train and travel to Dum Dum and board a metro to Kalighat from there, since truncated services are running beyond Noapara," said Anushila Das, who works in a govt school at Dakshineswar.