Snag hits Delhi Metro services

Thousands of commuters Friday reached their respective offices late following a technical snag in a Delhi Metro train that delayed services during the morning rush hour on the metro’s yellow line, officials said.

“A technical issue was detected in the automatic train protection system of one of the trains which caused a pile-up,” a metro official said.

A Delhi Metro statement said the Jahangirpuri-HUDA City Centre line was affected for more than half an hour from 8.58 a.m. to 9.32 p.m.

Since the faulty train was moving at a restricted speed of 25 km per hour, it led to “bunching of trains”, it said.

The train was then withdrawn from service at the New Delhi metro station at 9.32 a.m. and was sent to the depot for investigation.

“The faulty train was removed from the tracks and the services resumed,” the official added.

Soubhik Mukherjee, a commuter, said that despite announcements the situation was extremely chaotic.

“The underground stretch was extremely chaotic. Two metro trains were parked back to back at the same platform. I have never seen such a sight,” he told IANS.

The metro statement said that in order to cater to the peak hour rush, two additional trains for interchange stations, Rajiv Chowk and Central Secretariat, were inducted.

“Necessary announcements were also made at the stations advising commuters about the delayed service,” it added.