New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS) Services on Delhi Metro’s Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon line were affected for 40 minutes Wednesday after a train got stuck in the tunnel near Patel Chowk station.
The services on the Patel Chowk-Gurgaon line that remained suspended for 40 minutes were later resumed, but train frequencies were low and speed was slow on both sides of the line and passenger crowds swelled on the platforms.
According to a DMRC official, the train was stalled in the tunnel off the Patel Chowk station around 1 p.m. when a fault developed in its traction system.
‘The train was halted on the Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon line. There was some fault in the motor of the train, due to which the electricity supply to the train got obstructed resulting in the stopping of the trains,’ the official told IANS.
‘The air conditioner and lights on the train were, however, functional and repeated announcements were being made so that the passengers don’t panic,’ he said.
According to the official, the train was towed away by a rescue train around 1.45 p.m.
‘A rescue train towed the train to Patel Chowk Metro station and the passengers were shifted to another train,’ he said, ‘the faulty train has been sent to the depot’.
Commuters expressed anger over disrupted service, saying that such technical snags were now becoming a regular feature of the Metro operations.
‘This is now happening almost every day, the train stops in between the route causing a lot of delay. This was, however, too long as we were stuck there for more than 40 minutes,’ said Nilesh Pandey, a commuter on the train.
The official added that the services have resumed. However, passengers said the trains are running slow and stopping for longer durations at Metro stations. Both the sides of the line were effected by this.
‘The trains are moving at half their usual speed and taking long halts at stations. It took me 15 minutes to come from Malviya Nagar to Green Park, while usually it takes only five minutes,’ a regular passenger of the yellow line, Vishnu, told IANS.
‘We are clearing the bunching on the station, that is the crowd that got accumulated when the services were stopped. The trains speed is slow because it is a chain effect, the services will normalise shortly,’ a DMRC official clarified.
