Technical snag in Delhi Metro's blue line leaves thousands stranded
The snag forced many people to wait for an inordinately long time at the stations.
New Delhi, June 13: Evening rush-hour services on Delhi Metro's Blue Line were severely affected today as a portion of overhead wiring of the network sagged after being hit by an eagle, which also triggered a short circuit.
As trains ran on a single line between Indraprastha and Yamuna Bank stations, for nearly three hours, crowd swelled across stations of the busy corridor that connects Noida City Centre and Vaishali to west Delhi's Dwarka.
The incident happened around 4.55 pm, minutes before evening peak period, which sees thousands of home-bound commuters taking the rapid transit as office hours get over around this time.
Necessary repair work, through regulation of train movement, was completed by 7.40 pm, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official said.
"An
eagle
hit
led
to
a
short
circuit
of
insulator
resulting
in
sagging
of
catenary
wire.
The
insulator
flashed
and
broke.
It
caused
OHE
entanglement
with
a
train
passing
under
it.
"Consequently,
train
movement
was
regulated
on
this
line.
Trains were run on a single line, alternatively in either direction, and repair work was carried out. The snag had hit the down line that goes towards Noida/Vaishali," the official said.
The over 50-km-long Blue Line, DMRC's longest corridor as of now, is extremely snag-prone due to a host of factors including its vulnerability to external factors as it is largely overground.
DMRC's network currently spans around 213 kms and it carries an average of 30 lakh passengers daily, with Blue Line being one of the busiest.
PTI