Delhi stranded as power failure hits Metro services

New Delhi: Thousands of commuters faced severe hardship in the morning rush hours today when Delhi Metro services were disrupted because of the major failure in the Northern Grid, that supplies power it.

Train services on all six corridors were affected since morning and the Metro was able to run trains only from 7 am, an hour later than the usual time of 6 am. When the services began at 7 am, only 25 per cent of trains were put on all six corridors hitting commuters hard.

DMRC has said services are better now and full service will be restored soon on all lines except the Gurgaon corridor, which might take some more time.

As fewer trains ran this morning, frequency of trains too was at an all-time low of 20 minutes on a few corridors in the first few hours. The Metro stations were thus crowded.

Delhi Metro is putting its trains back on track by getting hydel power from Bhutan on a priority basis.

The disruption of metro services led to a services over-crowding of buses as office-goers struggled to reach their workplaces. The Delhi Metro carries around 18 lakh passengers a day.