Monkey business in Delhi Metro tunnel holds up Yellow Line
Normal service resumed at 9am, after authorities surmised that the three monkeys had, presumably, escaped. No Metro equipment was damaged, confirmed officials.
Three monkeys on Thursday morning went where no other monkey has seemingly gone before — into the underground section of the Delhi Metro.
Their visit impacted services on the Yellow Line for over three hours early in the morning, as officials from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the Capital’s municipal body and the forest department embarked on an unlikely search operation.
Normal service resumed at 9am, after authorities surmised that the three monkeys had, presumably, escaped. No Metro equipment was damaged, confirmed officials.
A train driver first spotted the simians between the Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate Metro stations around 5.15am, minutes before operations usually begin on the line.
As the Metro corporation informed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the forest department and commenced their combing operation, operations between Kashmere Gate and Central Secretariat were curbed from 5.21am to 8.59am.
Train operations towards Huda City Centre were stopped entirely, while those in the opposite direction (towards Samaypur Badli), were regulated manually.
Regular announcements were made during this period to inform commuters to avoid inconveniencing them during the morning rush, said DMRC officials.
Passengers were advised to use the interchange at Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate stations and use the Violet line.
“Train services on the affected section between Kashmere Gate and Central Secretariat section were run towards Samaypur Badli only due to the presence of the monkey,” said Anuj Dayal, principal executive director, corporate communications, DMRC.
Work to identify potential damage on Metro equipment resulted in trains getting bunched up, he added.
“We were unable to find the monkeys, so they may have exited the corridor,” an official said.
Commuters caught unawares in rush hour were less than amused.
Read: Delhi Metro moves to keep monkeys at bay
Ranjay Kumar, a central government employee, said, “I had to wait for at least 10-15 minutes at the MG Road Metro station for a train in the morning. There was a delay, which resulted in a huge crowd at the station. Commuters were unable to enter coaches due to the rush.”
Juhi Arora said it took her nearly two hours to travel from Kashmere Gate and Huda City Centre — a journey that usually takes around 55 minutes.
Others claimed that there was no clarity on the waiting time or alternate routes. “Huge mismanagement at the Central Secretariat station...no one knows where the metro is going...(sic),” tweeted Bhuvan at around 8 am.
This is not the first time that monkeys have impacted Delhi Metro operations. In June 2021, a monkey was spotted travelling in a train between Yamuna Bank and Indraprastha on the Blue Line. The monkey snuck into the train and stayed there for around four minutes before disembarking a few stations later.
Monkeys have been spotted on several elevated Metro stations, especially at Chhatarpur, Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar, and Sukhdev Vihar. These frequent monkey sightings led DMRC to devise a standard operating procedure to deal with the animals in 2021.
As part of the plan, signs have been placed at several stations that warn commuters to not feed monkeys. In addition, staffers with bamboo sticks have been deployed on certain stations to chase the monkeys away.