Health & Metro services stalled after power cut

A few medical colleges and hospitals in the city plunged into darkness on Thursday morning after three power stations of the CESC developed technical glitches, thus, disrupting the health services in the state-run hospitals.

The operation theaters at various medical colleges in the city including SSKM hospital and Calcutta Medical College did not function properly due to the power cut. The emergency departments of the hospitals which see huge number of patients everyday were in dark for some minutes in the morning.

Services were also affected at MR Bangur Hospital, Bangur Institute of Neurology, Sambhunath Pandit Hospital. However, the health services were soon resumed.

Metro services were also affected due to the power failure. A senior official of Metro Railways said that services were disrupted for 15 minutes during the peak hours on Thursday morning. According to the official, the electric supply to the Metro was disrupted for about 15 minutes from around 9.53 am following a breakdown in the supply. Passengers were panicked after the Metro coaches and the platforms suddenly plunged into darkness and the passengers took out their mobile phones and flashed the torch lights to lighten up the platforms and coaches.

The passengers who were inside the trains that were approaching various stations were anxious as the lights went off in the middle of the tunnel. When the trains rolled into the stations, the platforms were in dark. Railway staff and security men swung into action to help passengers in alighting from the trains at the platforms and also helped them to move out of the station premises without a rush. They assured them that nothing happened.

The trains, however, during that period, were stationary inside the tunnels. The rakes were rolled on to the next stations by the motormen using pneumatic brake system.

According to the official, there are a number of emergency lights inside every coach and these were illuminated immediately after the power cut. Metro services were resumed at 10.08 am.

"No passenger was held inside the train as every passenger was properly evacuated at the stations immediately after the power cut. Announcements were made at various stations that electricity supply was disrupted due to the failure of the CESC power stations. This is the first time in its history that Metro Railway services were affected owing to a power failure," a senior official of the Metro railways said.

The Metro system in the city gets its power feed from four sub-stations. It can run if the supply is available at least from one substation, the official maintained.