By IANS
New Delhi : A major snag in the northern power grid early Friday led to blackouts in and around the Indian capital for about six hours, halting trains on their tracks and forcing some power stations to shut down.
A spokesman for the Northern Regional Load Dispatch Centre (NRLDC) of the Power Grid Corporation said 50 lines of 400 kv in Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana tripped at about 3 a.m. The system was restored at about 9 a.m., he added.
Rishi Raj, spokesman of the Delhi Transco limited, said: “East and west parts of Delhi faced blackouts when the northern power grid problem began at 5 a.m.. North and south Delhi also faced intermittent electricity outages but were not badly affected.
“Power was initially restored at 9 a.m. but some lines tripped again and the situation was completely normalised by 10 a.m.”
Sutanshu Agarwal, deputy general manager of power transmission in Ghaziabad, said Uttar Pradesh towns falling in the national capital region – Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad – were badly affected by the power outage.
The electricity lines might have tripped due to dense fog, he added.
Northern Railway said 25 trains had been delayed in a big way, including Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains between the capital and various cities.
“The problem began at 2 a.m. with intermittent power failure being reported from the northern grid. The situation worsened by 6.30 a.m. Most of the Delhi bound Rajdhani trains were delayed by several hours. Although the Shatabdi trains left Delhi on time, many were stuck en route,” Rajeev Saxena, chief public relations officer of Northern Railways, told IANS.
The Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi was stuck on the tracks near Faridabad in Haryana for over two hours. The Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi and the Kalka Express were delayed by about three hours.
“Some of the trains have been diverted and we are constantly in touch with the Power Grid Corporation.”
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) officials said they had been forced to halt operations for a while at two plants in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
“Due to the grid problem, the NTPC’s plants at Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) and Faridabad (Haryana) stopped working for a short while but have now resumed operation,” NTPC spokesman T.S. Rajput told IANS.