OHE snag hits metro services on Red Line for around 3 hours

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro service on a stretch of Red Line was impacted for around three hours on Tuesday, causing severe inconvenience to passengers.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said the service was affected due to some issues with overhead equipment (OHE). Many passengers said there was a huge rush at stations as the train movement was hit on some stations of Red Line.
"Train services on Red Line were affected from 1.04pm to 3.51pm on Tuesday in a small section from Tis Hazari to Inderlok to undertake the repair work of a portion of contact wire (part of OHE), which got damaged or broken between Pratap Nagar and Shastri Nagar as a train was heading towards Rithala (down line) at 1.04pm," said Anuj Dayal, principal executive director of corporate communication at DMRC.
During this period, "regular train services were maintained from Rithala to Inderlok through both the up and down movement in one loop. However, single-line services were maintained between Inderlok and Tis Hazari stations through up line as the maintenance work of the damaged contact wire was in progress between Pratap Nagar and Shastri Nagar section of the down line," said Dayal.
Regular train services were maintained from Tis Hazari to Shaheed Sthal (New Bus Adda) through both the up and down lines. "The repair work was over by 3.51pm. Thereafter, regular train services on the entire Red Line from Rithala to Shaheed Sthal (New Bus Adda) were normalised," said a metro official. Regular announcements were made at the stations and inside the trains on Red Line to inform passengers about the situation, he added.
Manisha Gupta, a commuter who daily boards the metro from Mansarovar Park metro station, said, "I usually take around half an hour to reach ITO metro station, but it took me almost 1.15 hours today. I even had to wait for over 20 minutes at Mansarovar Park station to board the train, which again halted for eight minutes at the next Shahdara station."
She added that the train, which was packed, ran at a slow speed. "It was difficult for me to exit at Kashmere Gate metro station as a large number of passengers tried to enter and exit at the same time. My ride was normalised after I boarded the train on Violet Line for ITO," said Gupta.
Many commuters took to social media and posted pictures of crowded metro stations to complain about the delay.