Metro services hit for two hours as loco derails

The Metro train services were disrupted for over two hours on Thursday after a road-cum-rail-battery-powered loco derailed on the up track between the Swamy Vivekananda Road and Indiranagar stations.

“The loco was under test and the derailment resulted in disruption of services between 6 am and a little over 8 am,” Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) said in a statement.

The loco, which has been recently acquired by the BMRCL, was being tested at around 3 am when the power supply to one of the wheels got affected, leading to the derailment. The BMRCL had to switch-off power supply till about 8 am to fix the problem.

Although the single line services started on the downline (MG Road to Baiyyappanahalli stations) from 8 am, normal services were restored only after 10.20 am. The up line (Baiyyappanahalli-MG Road), on which the loco had derailed, could not be used immediately.

“Once in a week, we generally carry out routine testing before the normal services begin, to check power supply and some other parameters. Today’s was a small incident which will, in no way, affect the functioning of the Metro,” an official said.

The BMRCL has maintained that such incidents with trains ferrying passengers were negligible.

“This loco was acquired for periodical assessment of the situation. This will help prevent such incidents from occurring during actual operations,” the official said.