Scenes at Cubbon Park metro station.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Metro stations in the city's core witnessed huge rush as thousands of fans swarmed into the M Chinnaswamy Stadium for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's IPL win celebrations.
So intense was the rush that Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) closed Central College, Vidhana Soudha, Cubbon Park and MG Road metro stations temporarily.
Later, entry/exit points of Vidhana Soudha, Cubbon Park and MG Road stations were reopened to clear the crowd in a controlled way, said a BMRCL source.
"Due to the extremely high footfall at the Vidhana Soudha and the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, metro trains will not stop at Cubbon Park and Vidhana Soudha stations from 4.30 pm until further notice. Accordingly, token and QR ticket vending services at these stations have been temporarily suspended. BMRCL urges all commuters to take note of these temporary changes and cooperate with metro staff for a seamless travel experience. Passengers are advised to plan their journeys accordingly and use alternate metro stations for their travel needs," it said in a statement.
The Cubbon Park metro station, located right next to the stadium, had turned into a hive of activity, with inbound passengers far outnumbering outbound passengers.
Inbound passengers were made to wait to allow outbound passengers to head out of the station. Only about 20 per cent of the turnstile (Automatic Fare Collection) gates catered to inbound passengers.
Similar crowds have been reported at MG Road and Trinity stations, according to a passenger.
The BMRCL operated four additional train services: two from Whitefield (Kadugodi) to Challaghatta and two short-loop services from Majestic to Baiyappanahalli.
Some services were terminated at MG Road to ease congestion.
BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer B L Yashavanth Chavan stated that the corporation was monitoring the situation and would scale up services based on demand.
A senior official in the BMRCL said that the decision to cancel stoppages at metro stations was taken to prevent stampedes.
"There is a huge rush and a stampede-like situation outside the stations. We can't allow a similar build-up inside, so we have closed both stations," the official told DH, speaking anonymously.
The official explained that the two underground stations have "space constraints" due to shorter concourses and platforms, and are simply "not designed to take so much crowd".
"We have stopped issuing tickets for both stations and the situation is slightly better now. We will reopen the entry/exit gates when the situation fully stabilises," the official said and declined to specify a timeline.
The official stressed that "there is no glitch in our system". "We ran short-loop services and deployed extra security personnel but there's a limit to it," he added.
According to a DH reporter, metro trains stopped at every station for 5-7 minutes.
Around 6pm, the BMRCL also shut the MG Road and Central College stations. Even outbound passengers were stuck inside the stations and were unable to exit, according to multiple DH reporters.