Yet another Blue Line glitch brings Metro to halt

A GLITCH in the signalling system on the busy Blue Line Tuesday morning threw Metro operations out of track.

Metro trains on the corridor were running on a restricted speed of 20 to 25 kilometres per hour between 10 am and noon, leading to bunching of trains, delays and overcrowding at stations.

“Train services faced minor delays due to signalling problem (Track Circuit Drop) near entry signal of Dwarka station on the Up Line (trains coming from Noida/vaishali),” a DMRC spokesperson said.

“At 11.50 am, during the off peak hour, a 10-minute maintenance block was granted to rectify the fault. During the maintenance block, trains were regulated,” the DMRC spokesperson said.

“Dwarka station is also used for reversal of trains, therefore to avoid any major impact on services, trains were reversed from Dwarka Sector-12 station instead of Dwarka Metro station, and a few trains were also short looped from Rajouri Garden and Janakpuri West Metro stations towards Noida/vaishali Metro stations. This was done to provide regular services with slight decrease in frequency of trains during the period,” added the spokesperson.

Metro officials maintained that since the Blue Line is largely overhead, it is exposed to temperature fluctuations, pollution and kites get stuck on the overhead electrification line, leading to damage.

The Blue Line has been suffering from frequent glitches in the signalling and communications system.

The Blue Line handles a daily ridership of over 12 lakh passengers and is one of the busiest corridors of the existing Metro network.

Express Archive The Blue Line has been suffering from frequent glitches.