Christmas wasn’t very merry for some commuters on the Delhi Metro’s Blue Line as planned maintenance work affected travel for a few hours on Sunday.
The line, which connects Dwarka Sector 21 with Noida City Centre and Vaishali, saw only a single line being operated from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. as maintenance work was carried out on the line going towards Dwarka.
The maintenance took place on the stretch between Yamuna Bank and Indraprastha stations.
On December 23, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had put out an advisory stating that maintenance work had to be carried out in the day due to ambient temperature constraints.
Forced to wait 40 minutes
The advisory had also said that a shuttle train service would be provided between Yamuna Bank and Indraprastha stations every eight minutes. However, some passengers on Sunday claimed they were forced to wait for nearly 40 minutes.
A DMRC spokesperson said while there were “no technical snags”, there were some delays on the stretch.
“Services were available on the entire line with varying degree of delays in different sections. On two instances, due to the overcrowding at Indraprastha station, the waiting passengers got down on the tracks, that lead to delay in services between 12.45 p.m. to 12.52 p.m. and from 1.15 p.m. to 1.32 p.m.,” said the spokesperson.
Stations overcrowded
This ended up leading to bunching in sections. Coupled with Sunday being Christmas, stations connecting the Blue Line with Yellow and Violet Lines were flooded with passengers in the afternoon. Around 3.30 p.m., the Rajiv Chowk metro station gate near Palika Bazaar was crowded as people queued up till the streets of Connaught Place to enter the station. Even Mandi House station seemed overcrowded due to the delays. At the Ramakrishna Ashram Marg station, a train stood waiting for about half an hour. Several passengers chose to get off the train and find other modes of commuting.
