A power snag disrupted Metro services for close to 90 minutes during the morning rush on Tuesday.
The carrier ran a truncated service but the rush-hour disruption led to a harrowing time for thousands of office-goers, students and other daily commuters.
Trains did not run between Girish Park and Maidan between 10.15am and 11.40am, said a Metro official.
The problem started when a “flash” was spotted in the undercarriage of a train between Esplanade and Park Street stations around 10.15am.
“A flash was observed between Park Street and Esplanade stations on the Down Line (New Garia-bound) at 10.15am. Truncated services were run between Maidan and Kavi Subhash and between Girish Park and Dakshineswar,” Metro spokesperson Kausik Mitra said.
Normal services on the entire stretch — between Dakshineswar and New Garia (Kavi Subhash) — resumed at 11.40am, he said.
Some of the busiest stations in the commercial hub of central Kolkata such as MG Road, Central, Chandni Chowk, Esplanade and Park Street — the daily destination of tens of thousands of people — did not have Metro connectivity during this period.
The crowd swelled outside the stations as Metro passengers came out and waited for buses and taxis.
Around 11am, there were at least 100 people waiting outside Girish Park Metro station.
“I boarded a train from Dum Dum. The train was stalled more than once before stopping for good at Girish Park. The public address system asked us to get down as the train would go no further,” said a man who was headed to Chandni Chowk. He had arrived in Dum Dum on a local train from North-24 Parganas.
Buses were overcrowded with people struggling to stand on footboards. A man tried to board a private bus that plies between Hatiara (in North-24 Parganas) and Esplanade but it was so crowded that he could not.
The next bus he tried, which plies between Sodepur in North-24 Parganas and Esplanade, was packed, too. But the man managed to jostle his way in.
Taxis did short shuttle trips but overcharged passengers.
“The taxi driver asked for Rs 150 for a trip between Bowbazar and Esplanade. Another driver asked for Rs 250,” said a middle-aged woman outside Central Metro station.
Traffic department officers said the Metro disruption had affected traffic on Chowringhee Road and Central Avenue.
“There was a rush on the roads because of the Metro disruption. But we tackled it very fast. The north-bound traffic faced a little congestion between Ho Chi Minh Sarani and JL Nehru Road. But that was for 10 to 15 minutes. After that, there was no congestion,” said a senior officer in the traffic department.
A Metro official linked the disruption to a snag in the third rail. The third rail provides power to trains.
“The motorman of the New Garia-bound train spotted the sparks. The power tripped as a defence mechanism to avert a bigger problem. The train was emptied at Park Street and then taken to the car shed for a detailed inspection,” said a Metro official.
The third rail current collector in the undercarriage of trains often led to similar disruptions in the past.