Title - Delhi Metro hiccup affects thousands

New Delhi  : Thousands of Delhi Metro passengers were stranded after a technical snag hit services between Dwarka and Noida City Centre/Vaishali during Friday morning peak hours. By the time the snag was rectified after almost two hours, there was virtual chaos along the 49 km Blue Line that covers 43 stations in some of the most populous parts of the capital.Although the services continued to run, trains were bunched, with each train coming after every 11 minutes or so."This was too much," said an exhausted Popul Chatterjee, who boarded a packed train from Mayur Vihar in east Delhi. "The compartment I was in was crammed as everyone wanted to get into the train."The crowds were menacingly thick at Rajiv Chowk, the busiest Delhi Metro interchange through which the Blue Line passes.Normally, a train plies every three minutes between Dwarka and Yamuna Bank. From there every alternate train plies to Vaishali and to Noida City Centre.Metro officials said the fault occurred at the Janakpuri West station's overheard system which transmits electrical energy to trains.A Metro official said regular announcements were made at all the stations about the technical problem and delayed running of trains.The snag was detected around 9 a.m. and set right only at 10.45 a.m. This is when the trains are normally packed because of the rush hour.Delhi Metro makes 2,400 trips a day covering about 70,000 km. Its daily passenger load on working days is about 18 lakh.