Metro Rail services hit for second day

For the second time in 24 hours, the services of Chennai Metro Rail were disrupted following a traction supply malfunction on Friday morning. The technical snag, which affectedtrain service between Chennai Central and airport, and also between Koyambedu and Ashok Nagar, lasted for more than two hours.

Around 6 am on Thursday, the service between Central and airport was suspended, followed by the services between Koyambedu and Ashok Nagar. “Due to traction supply malfunction, Metro train services commenced as per schedule from 6 am in the Corridor Two with short loop services between Chennai Central to Koyambedu, Koyambedu to Ashok Nagar and Ashok Nagar to St Thomas Mount to ease the passengers inconvenience,” said a statement from the transport utility.

It said the service on Corridor One was not affected due to the malfunction reported at Corridor Two. “Post rectification… normal services were resumed from 9 am on Corridor 2,” the statement added.

Sources from Metro Rail said that the software was vital to automatic operations of the service, including running of trains, working of systems such as automatic fare collection (AFC) gates, schedule display screens, and recorded announcements at the stations.

This was the second consecutive day when the service was disrupted due to a malfunction. At 7.30 am on Thursday, Metro service was suspended for nearly two and half hours at St Thomas Mount after ‘point flashing’ at the station failed. It was resolved by 9 am and the services resumed.

Also, this is the second time in rather quick succession: in September, the service had faced similar signal problem for two consecutive days. The trains were stopped at several places during peak hours in the morning, putting the commuters in severe hardship.

In the same month, the automatic doors of a train with passengers on board could not be opened when it stopped at Egmore Metro station.