Snag hits Blue Line ops for 1.5 hours, riders walk to stn
Times of India | 29 December 2025
Kolkata: Metro passengers experienced a harrowing time on Sunday due to a major disruption on the Blue (North-South) Line when the emergency brake was inadvertently applied near Tollygunge station. Services were disrupted for around 1.5 hours, and passengers, including senior citizens, had to walk on the tracks to reach the station.
This was the second time such a disruption occurred in 11 days at the same spot.
Around 11.30 am, the north-bound rake came to an abrupt halt as it was entering Tollygunge station. Passengers, including the elderly and children, panicked. Sometime later, the third line was turned off, and passengers had to walk on the tracks to reach the station. No train ran between Maidan and the terminal Shahid Khudiram (Briji) stations until 1 pm. Truncated services were operated from Maidan to Dakshineswar.
"Since there is no crossover facility in the southern stations beyond Maidan, we could only run trains from Maidan to Dakshineswar," an official said.
A Metro spokesperson said, "Due to a sudden emergency brake applied just before Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) metro station on the Up (Dakshineswar-bound) line, truncated services were operated between Maidan and Dakshineswar. Passengers were evacuated. Normal services along the entire stretch of the Blue Line resumed from 1 pm." The reason behind the emergency brake application is being investigated, officials said.
Passengers vented their ire at Metro staff.
"The corridor, which is the city's transportation lifeline, seems to have become a source of daily harassment. Every other day there is some problem," said Aghya Das while helping his elderly mother negotiate the tracks leading to Tollygunge metro station.
On Dec 17, services on the Blue Line were disrupted for nearly an hour during the evening rush because a Shahid Khudiram-bound rake suddenly stopped as it left Tollygunge station and was climbing the viaduct, headed for Kudghat (Netaji) station. Passengers were evacuated, but the process was more precarious as it was after sundown. Then, the officials had said the rake's parking brake, which is applied when the train retires for the day in the carshed, was pulled inadvertently. Trains behind the affected rake stood one after the other. The scene was similar on Sunday.
A while after the disruption, people were seen waiting for transport outside Tollygunge station. "I waited for 20 minutes. When there was no announcement on when services would resume, I took a bus to Maidan station to travel to Dakshineswar," said Uttarpara resident Pradip Khastagir.