Bengaluru: What looked like a routine Metro ride between Whitefield and Challaghatta turned out to be chaotic Sunday morning.Around 11.40am, a Purple Line train carrying a full load of commuters came to a halt at the Beninganhalli station near KR Pura. As soon as the train reached here, commuters were told to deboard and wait for the next train.While BMRCL operates cut-short services during peak hours, that wasn’t the case Sunday. Moments later, the empty train left the platform and another train full of passengers arrived. Commuters who thought of boarding the train were disappointed as the second train was emptied at the same platform.By 11.50am, the platform towards Challaghatta was crowded with barely enough space to stand for commuters. “There was no proper communication as to what was happening there. Two trains full of passengers including those already waiting to board the train had cramped the platform with barely any space to stand. We went down to the concourse to enter but the staff was unaware of what was happening,” Aswini TV, a commuter, said.As the wait got longer, some had already exited the station choosing to continue their journey by road. Deepak PN, who was travelling to Cubbon Park from Garudacharpalya, said: “We waited for around 25 minutes and there was no way we could continue our journey. Though we were allowed to board the third train that came, the rush was heavy”.Left with no other option and limited time, Deepak and his group of five friends had to take a cab to Cubbon Park with the entire journey costing more than Rs 500 for the group. Meanwhile, commuters had also noticed two empty trains passing through the other platform towards Whitefield.BMRCL later clarified that the stretch was experiencing a signalling failure, forcing the trains to come to a halt. “It was sorted out and not much of an inconvenience was caused to the public. The issue was set right by the operation team. Since it was a Sunday, there was not much of a crowd…” an official added.
