Sparks & smoke in Metro coach leave thousands stranded

Around 1.40 pm, sparks emanated from the electrical contacts of the last coach of a Central Secretariat- Jahangirpuri Metro train that had arrived at the station. “My husband and I were on our way to take the Central Secretariat line when we heard a loud crack, which was followed by another.

We were scared, decided not to take the Metro and rushed out,” Jyoti, a Dwarkabased lawyer, said. Another commuter, Deepak, said he heard people say “ smoke emanated from the coach after the first crack”. According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the train services were affected for about an hour because of the “ repeated tripping of the overhead electrification (OHE) after sparks emanated from the rear pantograph” — the device that collects electric current from overhead lines — of a train. According to the Metro press release, a transformer on the train had failed and that resulted in the malfunction.

Staff at the station cut power to the OHE using the Emergency Trip System (ETS) after the sparks were noticed. A team of Metro engineers reached the spot and replaced the faulty part. Metro officials said the intensity of the electric current (25,000 volts) was quite high in the Pantograph. Services on the line were restored at 2.42 pm, DMRC officials added.

In the meantime, passengers of another train from Central Secretariat to Jahangirpuri had to be detrained at Patel Chowk after traffic on the line was disrupted.

It appears the increase in its operations, coupled with extensive construction activity, is affecting the Metro transport system. The Metro had faced a similar problem last November, when one of the trains got stuck midway between Rajiv Chowk and RK Ashram Marg following a power failure. Then there were reports that people were seen walking along the train tracks and that several Metro stations along the Dwarka- Yamuna Bank line were crowded.

The Delhi Metro claims it will be in a position to ferry about two lakh more commuters on Line 3 (Dwarka- Noida) and Line 4 (Yamuna Bank- Anand Vihar) before the Commonwealth Games. Twelve more trains will be pressed into service on these corridors within the next two months. As many as 52 trains make 566 trips a day on these lines now. The DMRC will be able to increase the number of trips to 725 everyday with the commissioning of the new trains.

Four new trains manufactured by Bombardier Transportation, Germany, are already on trial runs at the Yamuna Bank Metro depot.