Yellow Line turns into waiting line
New Delhi: A major disruption on Delhi Metro’s Yellow Line turned Friday morning commutes into a test of patience, with services slowed to a crawl for nearly five hours between New Delhi and Patel Chowk stations.
According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the problem began around 7:25 am due to a signalling fault and continued until about 12 noon, forcing trains to operate at a restricted speed of 25 kmph between Kashmere Gate and Patel Chowk. Though services on other stretches of the Yellow Line continued, officials admitted that “some bunching of trains was noticed on the entire Yellow Line.”
Packed trains, crowded platforms, and significant delays quickly followed. Several commuters reported that even short journeys were taking up to an hour. One passenger, frustrated by the delays, wrote on social media that travelling in the Delhi Metro during peak hours “feels like you are getting assaulted by people.”
Another commuter vented, “Wanna travel LATE & SLOW!! Do travel from Delhi Metro’s Yellow Line. To cover 25 min of travel time it still taking our more time to cover the route, already we’ve lost 1 hour of our precious time.”
While train services on other Metro corridors remained unaffected, the Yellow Line disruption had a citywide ripple effect, since it connects some of the busiest stations including Kashmere Gate, Rajiv Chowk, and Central Secretariat. As a result, rush-hour crowds spilled over to other lines, adding pressure to an already strained morning commute.
DMRC said passengers were kept informed through repeated announcements at stations and inside trains. “During this period, passengers were regularly informed through announcements at stations and inside trains. Updates were also shared via social media,” said Anuj Dayal, Principal Executive Director of Corporate Communications at DMRC.
Maintenance teams worked on the affected stretch through the morning, supervised by senior officials. The corporation confirmed that troubleshooting of the signalling system was completed by noon, after which normal services gradually resumed.
Despite efforts to manage the crisis, commuters expressed frustration over repeated technical snags. Many pointed out that the Yellow Line, one of the busiest in the network, running from Samaypur Badli to HUDA City Centre in Gurugram, has witnessed frequent delays in recent months.
Friday’s incident once again highlighted the capital’s dependence on the Metro for daily travel. With lakhs of passengers relying on the Yellow Line, even minor glitches have an outsized impact. As one commuter put it bluntly, “We’ve lost 1 hour of our precious time”, a sentiment that summed up the mood of thousands caught in the gridlock.
