New Delhi: Hundreds of commuters traveling in the Blue Line of Delhi Metro had a harrowing time at several stations on Tuesday as trains were delayed after a periodic maintenance could not be completed following heavy rains in the national capital. Commuters said the trains were arriving at an interval of 15 minutes to 30 minutes and the coaches were packed with passengers.
"Services on Delhi metro in Blue Line hit and every station is having a stoppage of not less than 10 minutes. Pathetic services and most unreliable mode of conveyance in Delhi. Pathetic management," wrote a user on Twitter. "What is happening to Blue Line. I got late by 1 hour today," wondered another commuter.
However, Metro officials said the speed was reduced for the maintenance work on the track which could not be carried out at night because of the rain. The trains on the line –connecting Dwarka to Vaishali and Noida –ran at a speed of 15 km per hour instead of 35 km per hour.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has clarified that due to some planned periodic maintenance by the Track department in the night, temporary speed restriction of 15 kilometer per hour (kmph) has been imposed on Up line between Subhash Nagar and Tilak Nagar stations (going towards Dwarka) and the speed restrictions will continue till entire day.
It further said that this may result in minor bunching and delay on the Blue Line. "The maintenance work happens at night but the rains did not allow finishing it in the deadline," the Delhi Metro said in statement. He further added that TSR will be removed once the track department carries out the remaining work in the night. Moreover, at around 1.30 pm the speed limit was increased up to 30 km per hour between Subhash Nagar and Tilak Nagar stations, it added. The regular speed would be restored by Wednesday, official said.
Upset passengers claimed that they had reached their destination late as the train stopped at every station for over 10 minutes, leading to social media platform flooding with the angry posts by the commuters over the delay. "The trains have been crawling on Delhi Metro Blue Line and running with packed coaches. The situation was claustrophobic," said disgruntled commuters.