14 December,2009 07:34 AM IST | | Surender Sharma
Short power disruptions are plaguing commuters on the Delhi-Noida Metro line; DMRC say it's not even a problem
With the expansion came the glitches.
The Delhi Metro's ride of woes continues to baffle commuters' unflinching faith in the omnipotence of E Sreedharan.
Even as the state of the art rail system is grappling with continued derailments and technical glitches, a new problem is staring in its face.
Power failures at some select spots at all the active lines are testing commuters patience. "Power disruption is the last thing you will imagine in Metro," said Prashant Bhushan, a regular traveler on the Yamuna Bank-Noida stretch.
"As soon as the train approaches New Ashok Nagar Metro station, the lights go off and the train slows down. I don't know what the problem is. But it's recurring," the 27-year-old bank executive told MiD DAY.
Though the travelers seemed least interested in the technical details, Delhi Metro explained that it was not a glitch but a way of fighting disruptions and keeping the power going.
"Electricity supply to Metro stations and for trains is maintained through substations. Each substation covers a particular distance between two stations. This is done so that in case of a problem, the supply to the entire line should not be affected. However, there remains a neutral zone between the supplies by two substations and there is a gap of ten seconds. But this is covered by back-up, so actually there is no problem," a spokesperson for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) told MiD DAY.
However, the users on the line that connects Delhi and Uttar Pradesh remain skeptical and claim that the Metro is hiding behind technical details.
"Even before the line was started there were rumours that the project may be shelved due to some glitch.
However, when the people took to the streets, it resumed. We doubt why this particular stretch was chosen for creating a neutral zone," said another commuter Vivek Kumar.
The spokesperson, however, pointed out that such zones exist on almost all active lines. "On line III it is between Karol Bagh and Rajendra Place, on line II it is near Azadpur and on line I there is a neutral zone between Keshav Puram and Kanhaiya Nagar Metro stations," he said.u00a0
| Past Baggage |
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>>September 8:u00a0 Services on the Indraprastha-Yamuna Bank section of Delhi Metro's line III were affected for nearly six-and-half hours as a section of signalling cable was stolen from the tracks between these stations the previous day. |
