Bengaluru metro’s Peenya Industry station sees huge crowds amid disruption

On Tuesday morning, the Peenya Industry metro station in Bengaluru was overwhelmed with passengers due to service suspensions at several other stations. The disruptions were caused by the closure of the Green Line stations at Nagasandra, Dasarahalli, and Jalahalli for trial runs of the new 3.17-km extension between Nagasandra and Madavara, which is scheduled to open by the end of September.
As a result, Green Line services were only operational between Peenya Industry and Silk Institute on those days.
The influx of passengers from the suspended stations caused severe congestion at Peenya Industry, the Deccan Herald reported. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that only one entrance was open, leading to long lines that spilled out onto Tumakuru Road.
This led to widespread frustration among commuters, with residents taking to social media to express their discontent over the station’s handling of the crowd. One such user questioned why both entrances were not utilised, while another shared images of the chaos, raising concerns about the ongoing situation.
Shankar AS, the Executive Director of Operations and Maintenance at the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), which operates the Namma Metro, spoke to reporters and acknowledged the issues but defended the arrangements. He noted that fare collection was streamlined through Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates, with only exit-based fare collection at destination stations. He also mentioned that security checks for passengers with luggage were necessary.
To address the problem, the BMRCL plans to open additional AFC gates and install an extra luggage scanner at the Peenya Industry station, the report noted. Furthermore, feeder buses from Nagasandra are running every half hour to mitigate the impact of the disruptions, it added.