Another Metro standoff on the Bengaluru Purple Line at Cubbon Park Metro station causes delays

People waiting at the Cubbon Park Metro station in Bengaluru after a technical issue on the Purple Line temporarily delayed train services. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Days after a major disruption on the Purple Line, services were hit by another technical snag on Thursday night when a train broke down at Cubbon Park Tube station around 7.30pm, delaying several services and causing a stampede at the station.

According to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), the disruption occurred due to a problem with the train’s door closing mechanism. The problem led to a temporary stoppage of services, affecting at least five subsequent train services and causing delays of almost 20 minutes.

BMRCL officials said the train was stopped as a safety precaution after its doors failed to close properly. “As informed by the operations team, subway trains on the Purple Line were temporarily delayed on the Purple Line due to a technical issue where one train door did not close properly at Cubbon Park subway station. As a precautionary safety measure, commuters were safely dropped off at the station. This safety procedure took approximately 17 minutes to complete, resulting in the temporary delay of the following five train services,” officials said.

Officials said the technical problem was fixed by operations and maintenance teams and that normal service was fully restored on the Purple Line shortly afterwards. However, commuters who were caught up in the disruption expressed frustration over what they described as poor communication by BMRCL officials during the incident.

Speaking to The Hindu, Radhika BS, a commuter who was traveling in the affected train, said passengers were confused after they were suddenly asked to alight.

“Suddenly the train stopped at Cubbon Park station. Within five minutes, all passengers were asked to get off. We waited for almost 15 minutes but there was no clear information about what was happening. When the station started to get crowded, I felt it was not safe to continue. I left the station, booked a car and drove home,” she said.

Another commuter, Praveen Kumar, criticized the lack of updates from the metro authorities. “We stayed at the Purple Line metro station for about 15 minutes without any announcement or update. No officials answered our queries about the cause of the delay or when the services would resume. The communication from BMRCL was pathetic. A proper safety audit should be done, especially regarding the maintenance on the Purple Line,” he said.

The latest disruption comes just days after a major technical problem on the Purple Line caused widespread inconvenience to thousands of commuters on Tuesday, raising new concerns about the reliability of the city’s busiest subway corridor. Reacting to the incident, Bengaluru Central Member of Parliament PC Mohan said the recurring glitches point to deeper systemic issues rather than isolated technical failures.

“BMRCL must conduct a comprehensive technical audit, fix the signaling system permanently and ensure accountability,” he said.

He further urged the BMRCL to release detailed root cause analyzes after every major disruption along with time-bound action-taken reports.

“Commuters deserve to know what went wrong, why it went wrong, what was fixed and what safeguards have been put in place to prevent it from happening again,” he added.

Published – 26 Jun 2026 0:32 IST