Thousands of passengers travelling on the crowded Blue line — connecting Noida City Centre/Vaishali to Dwarka Sector 21 — were delayed for over an hour due to technical glitch.
The line developed a technical snag, second time this week, disrupting train services for over an hour. Train operations on the corridor were affected due to a track circuit drop problem on Wednesday afternoon.
Passengers were delayed as rakes were operated on a restricted speed due to technical snafu.“Due to track circuit drop problem between Moti Nagar and Ramesh Nagar section going towards Dwarka of line 3, trains were moving at restricted speed in this section, leading to bunching and minor delay of trains on this line after 2.35 pm,” said a spokesperson with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
Though Delhi Metro claimed that the problem was rectified within an hour at 3.21 pm and normalcy restored on the entire corridor, commuters complained that the problem persisted longer. “There was a long wait for trains to arrive at Metro stations, which led to a pile up. Even the rake which arrived was crowded and the air conditioners were not working. The 20-minute travelling time increased to an hour on that day,” rued Archita Khanna, a Delhi University student.
Though regular announcements were made inside the coaches, the delay was unnerving for passengers, some on their way to a railway station or airport.
The line 3 Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida City Centre/Vaishali recorded the highest passenger footfall of over 9.8 lakh in August this year, but the route has been marred by technical hitches.