Snag hits Blue Line Metro services for an hour

A technical glitch on the Blue Line, which lasted for more than an hour, affected thousands of passengers on Tuesday morning.

The Metro services on the Noida-Dwarka and Vaishali-Dwarka lines were affected from 8:30 am to 9:47 am, said a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official. Those travelling in the Metro had to put up with slow ride and jam-packed coaches. Others tried to avoid the Blue Line.

The glitch occurred because a portion of the overhead electricity wire broke between the Janakpuri West and Uttam Nagar East stations. According to commuters, the trains crawled slowly on the over-50-km stretch, with stoppages of around 7-10 minutes at the stations.

“The services from Janakpuri West to Noida City Centre/Vaishali Metro station were provided by running trains on a short loop on this section. To carry passengers from Janakpuri West to the Dwarka side, single-line operation was also undertaken between the two stations,” said the DMRC in a press statement.

All other lines were unaffected, and train services were running normal, said Metro officials.

Many commuters travelling on the Blue Line chose to catch auto-rickshaws, buses and taxis instead.

“I took the Metro from Preet Vihar to reach Rajiv Chowk station. But by the time I should have reached, I was not even halfway there,” said Mansi Bansal, a young professional who was going to office on Tuesday morning. “I got down at Indraprastha station and took an auto,” she added.

Five specialised teams from different depots were rushed tofix the snag.
“The idea was to ensure that if the nearest team gets stuck in a jam or is unable to reach the site due to some reason, the back-up teams were on the way to carry out the urgent repair work,” said the DMRC. 

Meanwhile, DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh has ordered an audit to study the pattern of electrical failures on the affected line.  The audit will be conducted by a technical expert, said the corporation.