Glitches delay metro trains on Dwarka, Gurgaon lines

Just 12 days after 300 passengers were stuck for 30 minutes in the underground section of Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon line, Metro commuters on the same line had another harrowing day on Monday. Trains moved slowly and stopped frequently most of the day.

Just 12 days after 300 passengers were stuck for 30 minutes in the underground section of Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon line, Metro commuters on the same line had another harrowing day on Monday. Trains moved slowly and stopped frequently most of the day.

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The Noida-Dwarka section was also hit by technical snags on Monday morning. Metro officials, however, said services would be normal on Tuesday.

“Metro service is not reliable anymore. Every second day, one either gets stuck in the train or has to wait at the station ,” said Rama Yadav, a passenger.

Delhi Metro blamed heavy traffic and pressure on tracks for disruptions. “Delhi’s Metro’s performance is better than that of metro services in Singapore, Hong Kong, New York and London,” Metro chief E Sreedharan told Hindustan Times. “Glitches happen because of pressure on tracks. Since our frequency of trains is so high, it leads to immediate bunching of trains on tracks, leading to delays,” he added.

DMRC got teams of experts from Hong Kong, France and Switzerland to fix its system. But Monday saw two major breakdowns. In the last month alone, glitches were reported five times.

But Sreedharan said Monday’s problems were peculiar and unforeseen. “The power supply to the train on Dwarka line got cut-off. It is the first time that trains manufactured by Rotem developed this kind of problem,” he said.