Power snag halts Metro, passengers evacuated

As many as 84 passengers were evacuated from a Namma Metro train on Monday afternoon after it stopped on the tracks following a power failure at the Yeshwantpur station.

The train was forced to halt between the Kuvempu and Rajajinagar stations. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) staff forcibly opened the doors of one of the coaches and evacuated the passengers in 15 minutes.

While some passengers took back their money and left the station, others waited and continued their journey when power was restored. The power failure disrupted services on the Metro’s Greenline from 1:03 pm to 1:53 pm, between Yeshwantpur and Mantri Square-Sampige Road stations.

Passengers were guided out of the train to the sidewalk by BMRCL staff. They were made to walk one-behind the other along the sidewalk, which is a metre wide, for a distance of about 200 metres to the Rajajinagar station.

“The passenger evacuation is done by experts. We are trained to handle emergencies. In this case, there was no instance where we had to administer first aid. The evacuation was smooth,” BMRCL chief public relations officer Vasanth Rao told Deccan Herald.

Rao said that owing to power failure at Yeshwantpur station on Reach 3/3A, services were disrupted between Mantri Square-Sampige Road station and Yeshwantpur station. “As per the standard operating procedure, evacuation of commuters is done within 15 minutes...  Only one train was affected close to the Rajajinagar station,” Rao said.

According to Metro officials, on the entire line, on weekdays during peak hours, 25,000 to 28,000 people travel between the Nagasandra and Mantri Square-Sampige Road stations, while on weekends 28,000 to 32,000 people travel between the two stations.