The Delhi Metro’s Blue Line has been hitting headlines for all the wrong reasons. The Vaishali/Noida to Dwarka route, which has been facing technical difficulties for a while now, saw passengers stranded again on Thursday.
“I was stuck for around 30 minutes before reaching Pragati Maidan from Nirman Vihar. I missed an important meeting. These technical issues are affecting us a lot,” said Prabhutva Tiwari, a daily commuter.
Students hit
Delhi Metro officials, however, said that it was just a minor power fluctuation that caused the trains to be delayed.
The delay affected not just professionals, but also students returning from school. Some students, in fact, could be seen borrowing mobile phones from fellow travellers to keep their parents informed.
“I am in Class XII. We were let off early as the school asked us to go home and study. But if the metro keeps delaying us, how can we study?” asked Akash Bhatia, who was travelling back to Vaishali.
“These days my mother keeps worrying that I might get stuck in the metro. I had to call her from a woman’s phone. My mother then told me that she was stuck at the Anand Vihar metro station. I will have to wait for her now,” said a Class VIII student Rashmi Desai.
A regular thing
A lot of people, in fact, have accepted the delays as part and parcel of their metro journey. “I have adjusted my schedule and keep an extra 15 minutes just in case I get stuck,” said Sudha, a resident of Vaishali.
“Today, as soon as the train stopped at Laxmi Nagar, I knew that it was a snag again. It happens at least twice a week, which is why I leave home 40 minutes before my usual time,” said Rashmi Narula, a commuter from Karkardooma.
Raising complaints
While a lot of people seemed to have made peace with the regular faults, some proceeded to the counters to enquire about the procedure to register complaints. Others chose to ditch the metro altogether.
“I have seen people fainting while the train is standing with doors closed for half an hour. Delays happened on January 3, January 12, February 7, and now February 9. This is clearly not something that we will keep on bearing just because they used to provide good service. Before starting other phases, they need to be good with the existing lines,” said Arvind Daga, a commuter from Noida.
