The Hindu : New Delhi News : Metro writes to BHEL

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 15, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Metro writes to BHEL

Staff Reporter

Wants a proper investigation to avoid any more breakdowns

NEW DELHI: Faced with the major embarrassment of having a major systems breakdown due to faulty electrical insulation which took place while a national conference on "Delhi Metro -- The Story of Success -- Sharing of Experiences" was being held in the Capital on Wednesday, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has written to Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited to investigate the matter proper so that such a "material failure" does not take place in the future.

Not taking the incident lightly as it had brought the services on the Shahdara-Rithala Line I to a grinding halt, the DMRC has shot off a letter to Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited to look into the failure. A senior DMRC official said "the material failure should not have happened because the insulation for the 25 Kv traction has a long life and the system is just two-and-a-half-years old".

Maintaining that DMRC has a policy in place for regular replacement of all equipment after a certain amount of usage, the official said the maintenance norms are also very stringent. "However, there is little we can do if a material fails. It is therefore incumbent that the supplier, which in this case is BHEL, looks at the matter seriously."

What has really irked DMRC is that the breakdown took place just at a time when the Corporation is registering nearly 3 lakh commuter trips every day and it is being praised for completing both Line I and Line II of Phase I of the project ahead of schedule.

However, the problem in the insulation of the overhead electric line between Shahdara and Shastri Park stations in North East Delhi during morning rush hour on Wednesday, brought the trains on the entire route to a standstill as the Automatic Train Protection system prevents trains from coming too close to each other in the event of any one of them stopping in the tracks.

While the insulation failure had affected operations on the entire route, which carries around 1.5 lakh people daily, between 10-48 a.m. and 11-18 a.m, the service on the down line from Shahdara to Shastri Park remained affected up to 1 p.m.

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