Blue Line blues: Panic in tunnel as metro stalls again
Times of India | 14 January 2026
Kolkata: Blue Line metro commuters faced disruptions on Tuesday morning because of a power failure between Rabindra Sadan and Netaji Bhavan stations. This led to the suspension of services between Tollygunge and Maidan during the morning rush hours.
The north-bound rake, hit by the power trip at a particular point, halted between the two stations and was driven backwards to Netaji Bhavan station (Bhowanipore), saving passengers the ordeal of walking through the tunnel.
"The first pilot service with passengers started from Mahanayak Uttam Kumar as usual at 6.55am. En-route to Dakshineswar, after crossing Netaji Bhavan some obstructions were experienced by the crew which caused the train to stop. Since the train was stopped in the tunnel section, after a quick technical study it was decided to reverse the train to Netaji Bhavan station. Passengers were asked to wait at the station for safety," Metro Railway said in a statement.
"The reason for this incident will be further analyzed tonight after commercial hours. Due to this incident, bunching (trains standing one after the other) took place and we needed to adjust the timings and control train movement of trains accordingly. Truncated services were operated between Maidan-Dakshineswar and Mahanayak Uttam Kumar-Shahid Khudiram stations. As the tunnel section carries current through the third rail system, the proper shut down needed to be taken to ensure technical staff safety and movement. This caused the turnaround time between 7.13am and 8.46am," the statement added.
Only last Monday morning rush hour, a glitch had crippled metro services on the Blue Line (Shahid Khudiram-Dakshineswar corridor) around 7.30am, inconveniencing schoolchildren and office goers. The scene was even worse on Tuesday as a longer stretch remained out of service on Tuesday for a longer time.
Services from Maidan to Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) stations were stalled for nearly one-and-a-half hours even as truncated runs were available in the Maidan-Dakshineswar and Mahanayak Uttam Kumar-Shahid Khudiram sections.
Badal Mahipal, who works in the Baranagar area, said, "I reached JD Park station at 7.40am and discovered no trains were available till Maidan. I waited at the station for 10 minutes, hoping for services to resume. I took a bus to Maidan to board a train to my workplace."
Kudghat resident Putul Dasgupta, who was taking her daughter to her school in Lenin Sarani. "First, we took the metro from Netaji (Kudghat station) to Tollygunge. The services were suspended beyond this point. There was no time to wait for the bus. I took an app cab, paid through my nose to reach Lenin Sarani," she said.