Commuters in Patna experienced significant travel disruption on Christmas Day as services on the operational Patna Metro Blue Line were suspended for nearly 20 hours due to a technical fault. The Patna Metro Rail Corporation Limited (PMRCL) managed to restore operations on the priority corridor by Thursday afternoon following sustained efforts by its technical team.
Service Halted on Christmas Morning
The problem first emerged on Wednesday around 8 am, leading to an immediate halt in services. With engineers unable to resolve the issue quickly, the PMRCL issued a public notice on Thursday morning, informing the public that metro services would remain unavailable throughout Christmas Day as work continued.
This suspension affected the newly inaugurated section of Corridor II, also known as the North-South Corridor. The impacted stretch is approximately 3.6 km long and includes three elevated stations: Patliputra Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT), Zero Mile, and Bhootnath. For many residents, the metro had become a crucial mode of transport, making the day-long outage particularly inconvenient during the holiday.
Technical Team's Efforts Bring Metro Back on Track
Officials told TOI that the technical team worked continuously from Wednesday to identify and rectify the fault. Their dedicated efforts paid off on Thursday, allowing services to resume smoothly from Bhootnath station at 3:30 pm. Operations continued without further issues until at least 8 pm on the same day.
The PMRCL announced the positive development through its official social media handle on X. The corporation posted, "We are back on track! Patna Metro services resume at 3.30pm onwards from Bhootnath station. Due to the dedicated efforts of our technical team, we restored services and serve commuters once again."
Focus on Future Reliability
Following the restoration, PMRCL officials stated that regular services are now being closely monitored to ensure smooth operations in the coming days. The focus is on minimising any further inconvenience to the city's commuters who rely on the metro for daily travel.
This incident highlights the teething challenges often faced by new urban transit systems. The swift resolution, however, demonstrates the system's commitment to maintaining service reliability for Patna's growing number of metro users.
