Thousands of Metro commuters were affected by a major snag on the Yellow Line, connecting Samaypur Badli and Huda City Centre, on Tuesday, leading to the evacuation of over 5,600 passengers from trains, and at least 20,000 from stations.
While the scale of Tuesday’s evacuation was unprecedented, the Delhi Metro network is no stranger to such holdups and glitches.
In the last five months, Metro services have been hit by at least two “glitches” a day on average, according to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC)’s Twitter handle.
The Delhi Metro, which began operations in 2002, covering 8.3km, and with a ridership of just over one lakh passengers daily, is now the largest Metro network in India, covering over 370km, and carrying around 27 lakh passengers daily.
The Delhi Metro, which began operations in 2002, with 8.3-kms and a ridership of just over a lakh passengers daily is now the largest Metro network in India, covering over 370km and carrying around 27 lakh passengers daily.
This year, from January 1 to May 21, 453 updates were sent out on the official handle, informing commuters of glitches causing delays.
The posts also shows that the maximum number of these problems were reported on the Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida Electronic City/Vaishali) and on the Magenta Line (Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden). Around 221 out the total 453 posts were related to faults on the Blue and Magenta Lines. In most cases, these snags were caused by faults in the overhead electrification (OHE) or with signalling.
The DMRC on Wednesday said its Twitter handle reports every delay in the system so that commuters are not inconvenienced. However, most of these snags caused delays for “very short” durations, Metro officials said.
“Most of these delays are very short and were redressed within minutes. The Delhi Metro regularly maintains a punctuality of over 99% in its operations which span over 370km,” the Metro corporation said in an e-mail response.
The Metro corporation also explained that the OHE in the elevated sections of the Delhi Metro is exposed to a number of external factors such as rain, pollution, birds and thunderstorm, which increases the chances of faults in the system, when compared to the underground services.
“A set procedures for maintenance of the entire system is stringently followed and rigorous maintenance of the trains and the entire system is taken up every night, post operational hours,” the Metro response said.
It added, “It must be appreciated that some technical issues are bound to occur in any system as complex and sophisticated as the Delhi Metro. This happens in all Metro systems worldwide.”
On Tuesday, the breakdown in the OHE between Qutab Minar and Sultanpur Metro stations on the Yellow Line had disrupted services for over four hours.
After the incident, the Metro has constituted a committee to undertake a detailed fact finding about the OHE damage and for suggesting remedial measures to avoid a similar incident in the future.
First Published: May 23, 2019 01:19 IST
