Delhi Metro commuters faced a harrowing time on Tuesday when train services on Dwarka-Noida/Vaishali line were severely affected for more than an hour during morning peak hours on Tuesday due to a technical snag. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) informed that a portion of overhead electricity (OHE) wire snapped between Janakpuri West and Uttam Nagar East station, which led to chaos on the stretch.
“The train services were mainly affected from 8.24 am to 9.47 am between Janakpuri West and Dwarka section of UP line,” a DMRC official said. However, 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 the passengers from Janakpuri West to Dwarka side, single line operation was undertaken between Janakpuri West and Dwarka section. In order to ensure immediate repair/maintenance work of the affected OHE portion, four specialised teams comprising five-six members each went to the site from Najafgarh Depot, Airport line Depot, Mundka Depot and Yamuna Bank Depot, the official said.
The OHE was repaired and the normalcy of train services restored at 9.47 am, he added. All other lines were unaffected by this incident. Passengers travelling on the busy route were severely inconvenienced because of the snag as it was during peak office hours. Several remained stuck in metro as it was moving at very slow speed while hundreds could be seen waiting anxiously outside Metro stations.
“I had to reach office at 9 am but I could not as I have been waiting for over an hour for the Metro train,” said Ashok Jain, a regular commuter on the line. Another commuter complained that passengers were asked alight from the rake due to the snag which led to bunching of trains on the route, causing further delays.
Managing Director of DMRC Mangu Singh has asked officials to conduct an audit into the different types of electrical-related failures on line 3 so that the pattern of the failures could be studied and analysed with the intention of finding technical methods to minimise the occurrence of such incidents as far as possible.
The audit will be conducted by a technical expert of the electrical department of DMRC who will go into the various technical aspects associated with each electrical fault on this line.