Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line derails, crashes into wall

mangaloretoday news network

New Delhi, Dec 19: In an unfortunate turn of events, a trial run of a Metro train on the Magenta Line went off the rails (pun intended). The unmanned Metro train crashed into the wall of the Kalindi Kunj Metro depot.

The Kalkaji Mandir-Botanical Garden line of the Delhi Metro, which will reduce the travel time between Noida and south Delhi, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25.

A Delhi Metro official confirmed the incident and said that there was no reason for panic.

The official added that the test was being conducted at the Kalindi Kunj depot. It happened inside the gated boundary. Delhi Metro has asked for further inquiry.

The Metro staff is currently exploring technical reasons to ascertain the reason for the derailment.

The 12.64-km section, which is a part of Metro’s upcoming Botanical Garden-Janakpuri West (Magenta Line), was granted safety approval by the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) last month.

Metro’s new generation trains, which can run without drivers, will run on this section where an advanced Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling technology that will facilitate movement of trains with a frequency of 90-100 seconds will also be pressed into service.

As a matter of fact, when the trains are in car shade they are operated manually. It remains unclear whether the train that crashed had a driver in it or not at the time of the accident.

This is not the first time that the trial run led to an accident on the Magenta Line. On November 5 last year, two Delhi Metro trains collided in a freak accident at the Kalindi Kunj depot.The new trains which were equipped with the advanced anti-collision technology collided on the line 8 of the depot. No injuries were reported, however, both the trains suffered damages.

DMRC has issued an incident report:

An incident occurred at 3.40 PM (1540hrs) at the Kalindi Kunj Metro depot today which is under commissioning. A trial train was moved from the workshop without testing the brake system as a result of which, while the train was moving up the ramp for washing, it rolled back and hit the adjacent boundary wall. No person was injured in the incident.

As per normal procedure prescribed, when a train enters the workshop, the brakes of the train are decommissioned so that the train and its systems including the brakes can be freely checked. As per procedure, once the train is again re-commissioned, the brakes should have been tested by the maintenance staff in the depot before the train left the shed. The train movement inside the workshop area is done manually and not by the signalling system.

Prima facie, it appears, this was not done and subsequently, the person who took charge of the train from the maintenance staff also did not check the brake and proceeded with the train up to the washing plant built on a ramp. While stopping at the ramp, since the brakes were not available, the train rolled back causing this incident.

MD, DMRC has ordered a high level enquiry into this incident by a committee of three officers of the rank of Executive Directors consisting of Executive Director/ Rolling Stock (Project), Executive Director/ Rolling Stock (O&M), Executive Director/ Operations. Prima facie it appears, to be a case of human error and negligence and appropriate action will be taken after the enquiry