Delhi metro Blue Line slows down in peak hours due to maintenance work

Commuters on Blue Line complained that the trains took over 10 minutes to go from one station to another. Metro officials said the delay was due to maintenance work near Pragati Maidan station.

Delhi metro commuters again had a harrowing time on the Blue Line on Thursday morning as train movement slowed down during peak rush hour due to maintenance work.

Commuters travelling between 8am and 11am complained that the trains, which take two minutes to go from one station to another, took up to 10 minutes on Thursday. (Saumya Khandelwal/HT PHOTO)

The busy line connects Noida and Vaishali to Dwarka. Commuters travelling between 8am and 11am complained that the trains, which take two minutes to go from one station to another, took up to 10 minutes on Thursday.

Metro officials said that ‘minor delay’ was caused due to track maintenance that was being done in front of a metro station on the Blue Line.

“The DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) was doing track maintenance work in front of the Pragati Maidan metro station. The work lasted for 10 minutes and is now over,” said a DMRC official.

However, commuters said that there was a delay of more than half an hour in reaching their destinations.

Richa Shukla, a 25-year-old IT professional, had to travel from Preet Vihar to Barakhamba. The metro ride usually takes approximately 20 minutes. But on Thursday morning, she reached Barakhamba in 45 minutes.

“It was suffocating to stand inside the metro coach for that long. It was stuck at Jhandewalan alone for more than 15 minutes. I thought it will never move forward. If I had known earlier, I would have gone to office in a cab or auto rickshaw, ” she said.

The metro services have resumed working smoothly.

Delhi Metro’s Blue Line has seen frequent delays in the last few months. On the evening of June 13, passengers were stranded after train movement was disrupted for close to three hours. An eagle had snapped an overhead wire near Yamuna Bank station that caused disruption. DMRC says the line is elevated for a large part of its length, which makes it the most vulnerable among its six corridors.