The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Thursday said metro services were impacted on the Delhi Metro’s Red Line due to a cable theft incident.

Further informing about the matter, a DMRC spokesperson said, “In yet another incident of cable theft (signaling) reported between Seelampur and Welcome Metro station on preceding night, train services were regulated on Red Line that is, Rithala to Shaheed Sthal (New Bus Adda) since morning.”

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“The theft of cables disrupted the signaling system and trains were run with a restricted speed of 25 kmph in the affected section from Mansarovar Park to Seelampur Metro station from morning till 12:21 PM today,” the spokesperson said.

This caused a cascading effect on the entire Red Line resulting in delays in overall passenger trips from one end to another end during this period today.

The DMRC lays great emphasis on punctuality and reliability of its passenger services earning the tag of ‘Delhi-NCR’s Lifeline’ in all these years of its operations. The system runs with the support of hundreds of kilometers of cables running across the viaduct/tunnel to support the signaling, traction, telecommunication, electrical systems etc. for effective running of train services.

Any damage to the cables causes unwarranted delay in Metro services as replacing them during revenue service hours where trains run every 3-5 minutes is quite challenging and risky.

Despite this, the DMRC in most such occasions have attempted emergency measures to ensure that the replacement of cables is done in the fastest possible manner to avoid inconvenience to its passengers in the long run. However, sometimes if that doesn’t materialize, the restoration work is generally taken up at night,after revenue services are over.

To prevent recurrences of such cable theft incidents, measures are being taken up by DMRC. These are cementing over cables in theft prone areas, anti theft clamp installation, exploring options of drone and CCTV surveillance in vulnerable zones, Installation of concertina coil and Installation of covers over cable trays.

The recurrences of such incidents in recent months have been a cause of concern as it greatly inconveniences the commuters who rely so heavily on its punctuality to reach their destinations ‘on-time’ on a daily basis.

There are 89 such cases of cable thefts being reported from various corridors of the Metro network since June 2024 till date. These thefts include 35 cases of traction cables, 32 cases of signaling cables and 22 cases of electrical cables.

The DMRC deeply regrets the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to such incidents of cable thefts and is also in touch with the law and order machinery to resolve such recurring issues.