A routine early morning metro ride in Chennai turned into an unexpected ordeal for 25 passengers on Tuesday when their train came to a sudden halt deep inside an underground tunnel. The incident, caused by an unprecedented failure of both backup battery systems, led to a controlled evacuation through the tunnel.
Early Morning Commute Disrupted
The disruption occurred on the Blue Corridor line, which connects Chennai Airport to Wimco Nagar. The affected train departed from Chennai Central station between 5:15 am and 5:45 am. It had nearly completed its journey to the High Court station when it stopped abruptly, approximately 500 meters short of its destination.
Through the public address system, the train operator immediately instructed passengers to remain calm and notified the Operations Control Centre (OCC) of the situation. Following standard safety protocols, all other trains running on the same track were halted to facilitate the evacuation process.
Evacuation and Cause of Failure
The passengers were safely guided out of the immobilized train. Officials conducted a headcount before leading the group through the well-lit underground tunnel. They were received by the station manager upon reaching the platform at High Court Metro Station.
Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) officials later explained the technical fault. The train's control units lost power because both primary and backup batteries failed simultaneously. "Two battery systems power the control units of the train. Even if one fails, the other one will run as a backup for smooth train operations. In today's incident, both batteries failed, and the train could not be operated," stated an official. CMRL confirmed this was the first time they had encountered such a dual failure.
Service Restoration and Investigation
After the evacuation, service recovery operations began. The stalled train was moved to a siding track at Chennai Central with assistance from another train. Normal metro operations on the line resumed at 6:20 am.
CMRL has initiated a formal inquiry into the incident. The train involved was scheduled to be taken to the maintenance yard in Koyambedu on Tuesday night for a thorough technical inspection to determine the root cause of the dual battery failure and to prevent a recurrence.
The incident highlights the critical importance of redundant safety systems in public transport. While the evacuation was carried out smoothly without injury, CMRL's investigation will focus on ensuring the reliability of these backup power mechanisms.
