A fault in the signalling system on the Delhi metro Blue Line led to delay. (File)
Technical glitches crippled Delhi metro services twice today, piling on the woes of people battling waterlogging and traffic jam across the national capital. Trains on the Violet Line crawled during the morning rush hours due to a signal failure, while services on the Blue Line remained affected for over two hours due to a fault in the overhead wire near Karol Bagh metro station at 2:40 pm.
A Delhi Metro Rail Corporation or DMRC official said services slowed down at 8 am on the entire Violet Line between Faridabad and Kashmere Gate after trains lost touch with the control centre.
As the centralised control mechanism snapped, trains had to be manually controlled from every station on this section between 8 am and 9 am, leading to long delay. "The issue was resolved at 9 am and trains are now being regulated as per normal schedule on Line 6," the official said.
Later, a fault in the signalling system on the Blue Line led to delay. Blue Line is Delhi metro's longest and busiest corridor that connects Noida and east Delhi's Vaishali to west Delhi's Dwarka.
"Services on this line [Blue Line] were affected between 2:40 pm and 4:13 pm due to point flashing, a signalling issue in which trains don't attain normal speed and have to cross the point area with restricted speed as a safety measure. This led to bunching of trains during this period," an official said.
Earlier this year, following sudden power failure and resulting loss of contact between trains and the control centre, services were crippled on the Blue Line for two successive days.
Following the incident, an alternative mechanism that handled trains from station to station called "station-level handling" was activated.