Office-goers crawl to work on Blue Line

Failure of track circuit forces trains to slow down, doubling travel time for commuters

off track:This is the first time that Metro services remained disrupted for an entire day.file photo

Lakhs of commuters on the Delhi Metro faced a harrowing time throughout Friday as services on the Blue Line remained extremely slow due to a failure of a track circuit near Rajendra Place station.

Technical snags are common on the Blue Line (Noida City Centre/Vaishali to Dwarka), but they are usually resolved in a few hours.

First time

This is the first time that services remained disrupted for an entire day.

“We regret the inconvenience caused. The problem occurred on the Blue Line going towards Dwarka at 9.02 a.m. on Friday due to which trains had to run on a restricted speed of 25kmph between Rajendra Place and Patel Nagar metro stations. This resulted in bunching of trains on the line causing delay in services,” said officials of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Commuters, especially office-goers, faced a harrowing time as the snag occurred during peak office hours. The trouble was worse for those travelling from Noida to Vaishali.

“I boarded the train from Botanical Garden in the morning and reached Kaushambi in two hours. I think it is the first time that metro services have remained affected for an entire day,” said Rajesh Ahuja, a resident of Noida Sector 51.

Day-long problem

“While going to office I faced the problem and thought, like always, normal services must have been restored in an hour or so. But unfortunately, even while returning home in the evening it took me double the usual time,” said Payal Goswami, who takes the metro to Aerocity for work from New Ashok Nagar station.

According to DMRC officials, efforts were made thrice since morning to rectify the track circuit problem by allowing limited duration access, in the interest of the continuity of service, to the technical team at the tracks.

Services will be completely restored by Saturday morning only.

“Prima facie, it appears the track circuit needs detailed investigation to identify the actual cause of problem for which access to track is required for longer duration. This is preferred to be done after revenue hours only,” explained the official.

Track circuits need detailed investigation; services will be restored to normal only by Saturday