Morning commuters suffer as metro ops hit for two hours after tree fall in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Passengers travelling through the city centre had a harrowing time for nearly two hours on Wednesday morning after metro train services on the Purple Line were disrupted due to a tree fall. 

Tree branches fell on the tracks between between Indiranagar and SV Road around 6.15 am, causing immediate disruption to some of the train services. 

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) shut train services between MG Road and Baiyappanahalli. As a result, train services were not available at the Trinity, Halasuru, Indiranagar and SV Road metro stations for the next two hours. Trains ran only on the MG Road-Challaghatta and Whitefield-Baiyappanahalli routes during this period. 

The disruption impacted the travel plans of many early-morning office-goers and caused overcrowding at Garucharpalya and other metro station because of confusion about when services would resume. 

Shashi Bangalore, a regular metro commuter, criticised the BMRCL for failing to provide Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) of trains or make alternative arrangements for passengers. "This is not how metro systems are run the world over. The BMRCL doesn’t seem to learn," he said. 

Another passenger, Amit Singh, slammed the "typical Sarkari approach", saying the BMRCL was "not qualified to manage the operations". 

The services were restored at 8:05 am after the metro authorities cleared the tree, according to the BMRCL. 

Fallen tree branches on the metro track between Indiranagar and SV Road on Wednesday morning.

There was no disruption on the Green Line.