New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) Delhi Metro services along a route were hit Monday evening and thousands of passengers were stranded at stations as well as in trains for over 45 minutes when sparking caused by a rain led to a technical snag, an official said.

The route affected was Line 3 from Dwarka in the southwest of the city to Anand Vihar in east Delhi and to suburban Noida in Uttar Pradesh, which is one of the Delhi Metro's three operational routes.

'Rains caused electric sparks at Jhandewalan, Dwarka and Noida. The sparking led to technical fault and affected services on Line 3,' said a senior official with the Delhi Metro.

The trains were halted at three places - Kirti Nagar, Jhandewalan and Noida Sector-18 Metro stations.

A passenger at the Laxmi Nagar station said he waited for over an hour for a train.

'I could see hundreds of people standing at the platforms. Apparently, many were stuck inside the trains in the middle of the route. The Metro staff told us to get refund for our ticket tokens and catch some other means of conveyance,' said Rohit Khattar.

Delhi Metro officials said they were trying to fix the problem.