Frantic Friday: misery on road and Metro in Delhi

Commuters stuck for hours as Violet, Blue Lines suffer snag

Technical glitches crippled metro services twice on Friday, piling on the woes of people battling waterlogging and the consequent traffic congestion across the city.

Trains on the Violet Line crawled during the morning rush hours due to a major signal failure, while services on Blue Line remained affected for over two hours due to flashing of the OHE (overhead wire) near the Karol Bagh station at around 2.40 pm.

Signalling failures

Problems on the Violet Line started around 8 a.m when a technical snag hit the line connecting Kashmere Gate and Escorts Mujesar stations, the former being a major interchange station. The services were affected for over an hour.

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“Trains had to be manually controlled on this section of Line-6, which led to bunching of trains from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. The interlocking issue was resolved at 9 a.m. and trains are now regulated as per normal schedule,” said a DMRC spokesperson.

On the Blue Line, the spokesperson said that train services on Line-3 were affected from 2.40 p.m. to 4.13 p.m. due to point flashing (signalling issue in which trains don’t get normal speed and have to cross the point area with restricted speed as a safety measure).

This point flashing took place at the entry of Karol Bagh station on the down line (heading towards Noida/Vaishali).

This led to bunching of trains during this period. The normalcy was restored but the after effects were felt for several hours.

Travel time tripled

“I started from Noida Sector 18 at 3 p.m. The station was jam packed. The train stopped at every station for three to four minutes till Yamuna Bank. In Yamuna Bank I was stranded for around 20 minutes. The journey which usually takes 25 minutes from Noida Sector 18 to Mandi House, took 70 minutes,” said media professional Sushant Aggarwal

Noida-bound Dwarka resident Anand took the Airport Express to reduce his travel on the Blue Line, which he usually avoids during rain.

“But eventually I had to take the line after an interchange in New Delhi. The metro was moving at a snail’s pace and it was extremely frustrating,” he said.