Breakdown of two trucks during the peak morning hours and a technical glitch on Delhi Metro's Yellow Line forced commuters to take roads to reach their destinations and choked several stretches in South Delhi and the Gurgaon-Delhi highway on Tuesday.
One 10-axle truck, carrying crushed stones, broke down near Rangpuri area at around 7 am, affecting traffic on one lane and another 14-axle truck overturned on Rao Tularam Marg near Subroto Park area at 6.20 am, said Taj Hassan, Special Police Commissioner (Traffic).
The first truck was removed from road around 10 am and the second was removed at 9.15 am. However, traffic had already been affected by then.
Meanwhile, train services on the 49-km Yellow Line, connecting Huda City Centre in Gurgaon to Samaypur Badli in Delhi, stalled at 9.32 am and remained paralysed for more than four hours.
Several commuters were forced to take the road route to reach their destinations, triggering a cascading effect from the earlier traffic jam.
"The stretch between the Hauz Khas and MG Road was effected. Mehrauli Circle was the most effected area," a senior traffic police officer said.
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"Traffic is heavy at Qutub Minar, Sultanpur, Ghitorni, Chhatarpur,100 Feet Rd, CDR Chowk ,Lado Sarai, Aurobindo Marg, MG road due to technical fault in Metro line," Delhi Traffic Police tweeted.
There was heavy traffic for two to three hours in South Delhi. People came out of metro stations and sought autos or taxis to reach their destinations, the officer said, adding now the traffic is running normally.
Police tried to help commuters using their duty trucks.
"Helped several commuters to reach their destinations who stuck due to snag in Metro service in between Sultanpur to Qutub stn. Traffic police and Local police now clearing huge traffic on MG road," DCP South Vijay Kumar tweeted.