Major power failure in north India - The Times of India Report

There has been a major power failure in north India since late Sunday night affecting at least six states.

The states affected include Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, UP, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

"Yes there are problems with Northern Grid, we are trying to restore it", said SK Soonee, CEO of Power System Operating Co (PSOC).

PSOC manages the Northern Power Grid. Officials sources said while the exact reasons for the grid failure are being ascertained , over drawl of power by states could have led to the problem.

The restoration of the grid may take a few more hours even as the engineers are trying to restore it since early morning.

Power supply in some pockets is being restored and the first priority is for public services like hospitals and transport.

"We are hoping to restore the grid in the next one or two hours. We are giving essential loads for services like Railways, Metro and Hospitals," chairman and managing director of Power Grid Corporation AM Nayak said.

Meanwhile, thousands of office-going commuters in the national capital are facing severe hardship as Delhi Metro services have been largely disrupted owing to the Northern Grid failure.

Train services on all six corridors have been affected since morning and the Metro was able to run trains only from 7 am, an hour later than the usual time of 6 am.

Not just Metro serveices, several trains plying to and from Delhi have been stranded due to power failure.

No announcement has so far been made on the resumption of services.

Hundreds of passengers have been stranded at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station in the national capital as no trains travelling via Agra-Mathura are reaching Delhi.

The whole of Rajasthan, which is one of the states affected due to power supply failure from the Northern Grid, witnessed a complete black out for almost 4 hours between 1 am to 5 am.
The Northern grid failure has hit rail services in Punjab and Haryana also.

All major trains like Shatabadi Express, Chandigarh-Chennai train, Sadbhawna Express, Sachkhand Express, Rajdhani Express are among those hit by the grid failure.

After closing down the thermal power plants following the grid failure, Haryana has started lighting the plants in Panipat and Hisar.

There is total chaos at the major railway stations in the two states.

Ambala railway division has rushed a diesel engine to Chandigarh for running the Kalka-Chandigarh-New Delhi Shatabadi Express train.

The Jan Shatabadi has been halted at Una.

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