If you travel on the blue line of the Delhi metro, you would know how often the snags are hitting one of the busiest lines these days. So much so that even the Central government had to intervene asking the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to submit a report over the frequent glitches.
After inspecting the train services on the Blue Line, Delhi Metro Managing Director Mangu Singh issued a
series of directions to address a few recurring issues. It was found that the main trouble spots were related to signalling and power supply. The Automatic Train Control (ATC) cards, which is a speed control mechanism on board trains, and Train Interface Computer (TIC) cards, failures of which have been a major cause of service disruption will be replaced.
Track Circuits which are electrical devices used to detect the absence of a train on tracks and inform signallers was also another trouble area in the Blue Line, which was looked into. Copper cables of the system have been replaced with that of steel to prevent theft in certain areas of the network while Relay Boards, that open or close an electrical circuit, are being replaced at many stations.
It was being said that most of the Blue Line’s woes can be attributed to its old signalling system which, when installed, was not supposed to take the load it currently does. Due to the ‘fail safe’ nature of the network, the metro system slows down or stops only to ensure the safety of the passengers on board thereby resulting in delay of services.
