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Crack in track delays train movement on Blue Line
New Delhi
New Delhi
Train operations on Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s busy Blue Line (Dwarka sector 21 and Noida Electronic city) witnessed major disruption on Monday due to a crack in the track between Karol Bagh and Rajendra Place metro stations (towards Dwarka) detected around 8.30am on Monday, leading to trains running at restricted speed and causing delays to morning commuters.
For almost four-five hours in the morning, commuters said, the train movement was affected. “The trains was running slow and the halts at stations was longer,” said Sunita, a Noida resident who was travelling to Karol Bagh for work.
Anuj Dayal, executive director corporate communication, DMRC, said, “A precautionary temporary speed restriction (TSR) of 25 Kmph was imposed for trains moving on section of Blue Line between Karol Bagh to Rajendra Place Metro stations due to a weld fracture observed in this section today morning.”
The Blue Line is the DMRC’s busiest corridor with nearly 8 lakh people using it daily. The agency said it will carry out the repair work on Monday night after service hours in order to avoid in convenience to passengers.
“Trains will continue to run with slow speed from Karol Bagh to Rajendra Place as maintenance is needed for track in this section, which will be carried out after service hours. We regret the inconvenience caused. Please allow for extra time in your commute,” DMRC had tweeted, informing Metro users about the problem.
Several commuters took to Twitter to report the delay in train movement. “Why this always happen with blue line..every month 2-3 times I (am) late to office just because of blue line,” Deepak Jain, a chartered accountant, tweeted. Last month, Metro services on Blue line were affected after a crack was noticed on the track at Indraprastha station.
DMRC officials say that the train movement towards Rajiv Chowk from Dwarka was normal. “Services on the entire Blue Line are running normal since then with no impact as such on the regularity of the services. There was initial bunching of trains when the speed restriction was being imposed around 8:50am to regulate all the trains on the Line accordingly,” said Dayal.
Explaining the reason behind the crack, Dayal said, “These welds at times get fractured due to change in temperature/weather conditions and generally it happens during early morning hours. Today’s defect was also noticed in the morning and accordingly it was safely secured as per the established norms and procedures.”
