Mumbai Metro’s Aqua Line, the cities first underground metro witnessed its first major operational crisis on Friday, with services disrupted twice in a single day due to signalling failures, leaving thousands of commuters stranded during peak hours and triggering complaints over poor communication by authorities.

The first disruption began shortly after 8.30 am, at the height of the morning office rush, when a signalling error brought a train to a halt between stations, forcing operations across the entire line to freeze.

Commuters across stations reported long waits, overcrowding and little to no information from metro authorities about the nature of the fault or the expected time for restoration.

“A massive crowd had accumulated at Marol Naka station when I reached around 9 am,” said Ishan Tanna, a 26-year-old Worli resident. “There were no trains and no indication of when services would resume. After waiting nearly 20 minutes, I exited the station hoping to get clarity through mobile internet, but none of the helpline numbers responded either.”

As confusion mounted, crowds swelled across stations, affecting cooling systems inside the underground network. At several stations, metro staff temporarily stopped passengers from entering platforms to manage congestion.

With no clear timeline for resumption of services, many commuters abandoned the metro and switched to taxis or suburban trains, significantly delaying their journeys.

Even before normalcy could fully return, the Aqua Line suffered a second disruption around 12.45 pm, once again stalling services across the corridor.

Passengers said the repeated assurances of “short delays” only added to the frustration.

“Our train stopped at Dadar and the display board said there was a small delay. Officials kept saying services would resume in five minutes,” said Rahul Jakar, who was travelling with seven family members, including two senior citizens and a child, to Jaslok Hospital for a medical appointment. “But five minutes became 15, and then another 15.”

Jakar said his family eventually waited nearly 45 minutes before abandoning the metro and scrambling for taxis to reach the hospital on time.

Officials at customer service counters reportedly acknowledged a technical fault but repeatedly extended estimated restoration timelines, further fuelling commuter anger.

Services were fully restored only after 2.30 pm, with the disruption lasting nearly two hours during the second phase alone.

The biggest grievance among passengers was the absence of timely updates in an underground corridor notorious for weak mobile connectivity.

“All attempts to find out when trains would restart were futile,” Tanna said. “The metro authorities tweeted about the disruption only after services had resumed. By then, it was useless.”

A statement from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation read, “MMRC regrets the inconvenience caused to commuters due to the temporary train halt inside the tunnel for approximately 30 minutes today following a technical snag. MMRC prioritised passenger safety and ensured that the situation was attended to promptly by the technical and operations teams. Train services were restored after necessary corrective measures were undertaken.”

Officials said tickets would be refunded, with those having purchased physical tickets refunded and advised those who booked tickets online to raise grievances for the refund process.