An overhead power line break off between Ameerpet and Begumpet metro stations led to a major breakdown of Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) services during peak hours on Tuesday evening.
Several passengers on board a train moving from Nagole to Ameerpet had harrowing time when they were stranded inside the train for close to half an hour before metro rail engineers brought them out and escorted them towards the Ameerpet station.
“The train halted all of a sudden with a sudden jerk and noise. We did not know what had happened and it was a while before we were taken out,” said a shaken passenger. While L&T metro rail engineers rushed to take up restoration work on the line, train operations were halted on Corridor Three while Corridor One trains between L.B. Nagar and Miyapur were affected too.
“The pantograph or the apparatus which draws power from the overhead electrical traction system got entangled with overhead electrical line on the up-line. Trains were run on the other line in single line method carefully in restricted mode leading to cascading effect. Rectification works of the affected line are going on,” explained HMR managing director N.V.S. Reddy.
The breakdown led to huge crowds converging on the stations with no train in sight. After some time, the metro trains were operated on the second line at a slow pace. With terminal stations especially the HiTec City getting more passengers, metro rail authorities decided to give priority to moving them to their respective destinations first.
“Shuttle metro services were being run from Nagole to Prakashnagar and again between Ameerpet and HiTec City avoiding the snag section between Begumpet and Ameerpet. There are pocket lines available at Ameerpet and Prakashnagar enabling L&T metro rail to run the trains between these two sections,” said Mr. Reddy.
The engineers were expected to complete the restoration work within a couple of hours and complete all the checks once the train operations are closed for the night to ensure normal operations from Wednesday morning, he added.
