Bird hit halts Delhi Metro trains on Blue Line for nearly 2 hours
Services between Yamuna Bank, an interchange hub, and Indraprastha (towards Dwarka), were affected between 6.30pm and 8pm, after a contact wire broke due to bird hit, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official said.
Train services on Delhi Metro’s Blue line (Dwarka sector 21- Vaishali/Noida Electronic City) were affected for close to two hours due to a technical snag after a “bird hit” during the evening rush hour on Monday.
Services between Yamuna Bank, an interchange hub,and Indraprastha Metro stations (towards Dwarka) were affected between 6.30pm and 8pm, after a contact wire broke due to bird hit, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation official said.
As a train stopped between the two stations, passengers going towards Dwarka de-boarded on the tracks and walked back to Yamuna Bank.
Anuj Dayal, principal executive director (corporate communication), DMRC, said, “Train services were temporarily not available between Indraprastha and Yamuna Bank stations due to the absence of Overhead Equipment (OHE) resulting from the breakdown of contact wire due to bird hit. Normal train services were continuously available on the rest of the sections of Blue Line during this period in two loops i.e, from Yamuna Bank to Vaishali/Noida Electronic City and Indraprastha to Dwarka Sec-21 sections.”
Metro users shared photographs of people deboarding the train and walking on the tracks on the social media. They also complained that there was no announcement on the train about the reason for the long halt and when the services would resume.
“What’s the reason for delay & how much time it will take to get Blue Line moving? Please share. No announcement inside the train or on the platform at Yamuna Bank Metro Station. I am at Yamuna Bank Metro Station since 6:15pm. It’s 7pm at Present,” tweeted a commuter.
The disruption led to a cascading effect at several other stations where people waited long for a train, at Barakhamba station a huge queue of passengers was seen outside the station, and a massive rush built up at the Rajiv Chowk Metro station, a critical interchange station.
At Noida Sector 16 station, the station gates were closed, and commuters complained that there was no information about why the gates were shut or any update about train services. “Am currently at Noida sec 16 metro stn, stn gates are shut. Stn staff clueless, delays/faults are quite repetitive now. Almost like twice or thrice in a month. Very sad to see,” tweeted a user, Hemant Yadav.
As the OHE was being repaired, Dayal said, the DMRC started a shuttle service for passengers between Indraprastha and Yamuna Bank stations. “Normal services on the entire Blue Line from Dwarka Sec-21 to Noida Electronic City/Vaishali resumed 8pm onwards,” said Dayal.
