Metro snag adds to rain chaos (Indian Express 13 July 2010)

The 51.4 mm of rainfall that lashed the city on Monday evening brought much relief to the citizens from the hot and humid conditions, but as feared, traffic across the city once again went haywire. While road traffic, despite the inevitable water-logging, was much better than last week, a technical snag in a Metro train ended up choking the system for well over an hour.
A Metro train stopped at Jhandewalan Metro Station of the Dwarka Sector 9-Noida City Centre line at around 6.55 pm due to a local technical problem, delaying other trains between Rajiv Chowk and Dwarka. According to Metro officials, the train was stuck at the station for around 15 minutes till some trouble-shooting got it running again. But as a result of the stoppage, other trains behind it were held up causing "bunching" of trains.
Madhavan Nair, who was returning to Dwarka, told Newsline, "The train I was in stopped in the Metro tunnel between Rajiv Chowk and Ramkrishna Ashram Marg for well over 40 minutes. As the doors were shut and the coaches were packed it became suffocating. Despite our request, the driver refused to open the emergency doors and two commuters started feeling extremely sick."
However, Metro officials maintained that in such cases the ventilation system of the coaches is kept on and doors are not opened. If commuters get down on to the tracks it could lead to further delays, they added.
Aditi Mathur, a college student stuck at the Nirman Vihar Metro Station said, "The train stopped a little ahead of the station for around an hour and there were no announcements informing how long the delay last. It was quite a harrowing experience."
Meanwhile, the rains once again highlighted the poor infrastructure in the city as massive traffic snarls followed the water logging on important roads. Uprooted trees also messed up traffic at 13 locations. The traffic police were present at all major spots but had a tough time controlling the traffic.
The situation, however, was better than the chaos last week, when major points like Dhaula Kuan and Sri Aurobindo Marg had to be closed for traffic movement for close to two hours. For instance, traffic flowed smoothly at Dhaula Kuan. "There was no traffic stoppage due to water-logging at the underpass as PWD has now made the water pumps functional and the water is immediately pumped out," a traffic official said. But Wazirpur, Pragati Maidan and Qutub Minar Metro stations once again reported major water-logging and traffic jams.
"There have been several localised problems that affected traffic movement, but the traffic snarls then have a domino effect. Traffic gets affected everywhere due to water-logging, vehicles breaking down and uprooted trees. It was definitely a difficult day," said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg.
Most of traffic signals too stopped working due to water seepage. Several others had to be closed down to prevent a traffic pile up. "We had to close down several signals to go with the traffic flow. Traffic cannot be directed as per automatic signals in such circumstances. But our men were present at all junctions to direct traffic," Garg said.
After over an hour of rain, the MCD had received 32 complaints of waterlogging from various parts of the city.
STUCK ON ROADS: PROBLEM AREAS ON MONDAYTILAK MARG: There was massive water-logging on both sides of the IP flyover, leading to traffic snarls till India Gate. The Traffic police could not carry on with the contra traffic flow, wherein one lane is used for traffic from ITO to Vikas Marg. "The contra flow was not possible as all traffic merged towards the centre. With so much water-logging, it is also not safe to drive in the left lane," said JCP (Traffic) Satyendra Garg.
GOL DAK KHANA: Water-logging at Gol Dak Khana made it very difficult for the traffic flow on the entire Ashoka Road stretch, the main carriageway for East-West traffic.
AZAD MARKET: The railway underpass at Azad Market had at least four feet water on both sides. Subsequently, the breaking down of a DTC bus made traffic come to a complete standstill.
RING ROAD: Even though the situation was better than last week, when the main Dhaula Kuan stretch was submerged, the traffic flow on the entire Ring Road was very heavy with major problems at ISBT and Rajghat.