Delhi: Metro rail
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
2002-2016: Growth, as well as ageing
The Times of India
Rumu Banerjee, Under strain, Metro plans to beat the rush, Sep 18 2016 : The Times of India
Over 14 years, Metro has changed the way Delhiites travel. But with a massive rise in passenger count, DMRC is taking its reinvention seriously
With passengers having risen from a mere lakh in 2002 to over 27 lakh now, and with two new corridors to open in 2017, the urban train system is straining to maintain the standards with which it began operations.
The wear and tear of 14 years is quite visible: trains break down more often now, the overhead electrification system regularly gets disrupted and even outages halt the services. Outside the stations, autorickshaws, e-rickshaws, buses and cars vie for space, crowding out the commuters. Inside the stations, it's no better. The passenger count at major stations such as Rajiv Chowk, Chandni Chowk, New Delhi, HUDA City Centre and GTB Nagar is between 50,000 and 80,000 every day . Not surprisingly, Delhi Metro has had to induct more marshals or `customer facilitation agents' -400 at around 20 busy stations -in the past year.
The Times of India
But the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is not sitting idly watching this chaos unfold. It does have plans to streamline the system. For one, the company is reconfiguring the stations. Says Sharat Sharma, director (operations): “Nine stations on Line 2 and Line 3 are being been remodelled for better passenger convenience. This includes shifting and relocation of stairs, ticket counters and exitentry gates to ease congestion.“ The nine stations are HUDA City Centre, Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi, Kirti Nagar, Guru Dronacharya, MG Road and Noida Sector 15, Noida Sector 16 and Noida City Centre.
At Rajiv Chowk, for instance, the Viewers' Gallery, shut all these years to commuters, has been made accessible to them to enable easy passage to either platforms there. “We saw that almost 35,000 passengers entered the station from Gates 5 to 8 and crossed the bridge to get to the other platform. The opening up of the Viewers' Gallery allows better distribution of passenger flow,“ explains Sharma.
At HUDA City Centre, Chandni Chowk and New Delhi, the ticket counters and automated fare collection gates were increased or relocated to create space for passengers.The points where CISF frisked commuters were similarly shifted. The operations director says that to ensure hassle-free passenger services, 171 new token vending machines were put up at major stations, while around 180 new fare collection gates have been erected at busy stations for the convenience of passengers making an entry or an exit.
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The overcrowding can often result in accidents. In 2014-15, 71 passengers jumped on to or fell on the tracks. And while this figure slid to 35 in 2015-16, passenger safety remains a big concern. To address this, DMRC plans to install platform screen doors at Central Secretariat, Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi, Chawri Bazar, Chandni Chowk and Kashmere Gate. The restraining screens will not only prevent accidental falls and deter suicide attempts, but also enable better crowd management. “The doors will enable optimum utilisation of the platform space,“ assures a DMRC official.
International rank
2nd among 18 metro systems
Delhi Metro ranked 2nd among 18 international metro systems
PTI | Sep 28, 2014
NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro has been ranked second among 18 international Metro systems in terms of overall customer satisfaction in an online customer survey.
According to a DMRC official, in the survey conducted among the commuters of those Metro systems by Global Metro Benchmarking Groups 'NOVA' and 'CoMET', Delhi Metro along with London DLR and Bangkok were the best three performers in the 'Net Promoters Score' (NPS) category.
Under this category the survey analysed the likelihood of customers recommending the service to others on the basis of their satisfaction.
More than 41,000 respondents gave their feedback worldwide in this survey conducted online through the websites and social media links of 18 major Metros of the world from April 28th to May 25th earlier this year. The Metro systems that participated in this survey apart from Delhi Metro were Hong Kong MTR, London Underground, Metro De Madrid, Paris RATP, Metro De Sandiago, Singapore SMRT, Barcelona TMB, Brussels STIB, Bangkok BMCL, London DLR, Istanbul Ulasim, Kualalumpur Rapid PL, Metropolitano De Lisboa, Montreal STM, Newcastle Nexus, Metro Rio and Toronto TTC.
The NPS is calculated by the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors (P-D = NPS).
When asked to list out the three top priority areas, the respondents from Delhi along with 17 other Metros listed as 'availability' as the most important requirement. Only New Castle and Hong Kong selected 'Reliability' as their most important area.
"Delhi Metro commuters rated reliability and crowding as the other two important priority areas," the official said.
The survey was conducted as per the 'European Norm 13816' and the areas covered were availability, accessibility, ease of use, information prior to travel, information during travel, reliability, customer care, comfort, crowding, and security.
DMRC is a member of the NOVA group of Metros which is a benchmarking community comprising of 17 metro systems (small and medium size metros) from around the world.
It provides a platform to share experiences, ideas and good practices followed by member Metro systems across the world. It also helps in evaluating the performance of Metro systems by studying their key performance indicators. The forum is co-ordinated by the Rail Transport Strategic Centre (RTSC) of Imperial College, London.
This year, DMRC hosted the NOVA Phase-17 Management Meeting in New Delhi from September 24-26. The meeting was attended by 11 NOVA member Metros including DMRC and two Indian observers' Metros (Bangalore Metro and Chennai Metro).
DMRC will be elevated to CoMET (Community of Metros) Group of Metros. The CoMET is a group of 16 of the world's largest Metros. To qualify for becoming a member of CoMET, the average ridership should be above 20 lakh and the city should be the primary city of country.
Economic benefits
2007-2012
Dec 25 2014
Delhi Metro rides high and is keeping 3.9 lakh vehicles off roads
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), that celebrated 12 years of its operation claimed to have kept nearly 3.9 lakh vehicles off roads in 2014.The head of DMRC, Mangu Singh, said the Metro helped save Rs 10,364 crore in fuel, time saved in commuting and other benefits. It also helped reduce air pollution and accidents. The figures, revised and calculated by Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), quantify the benefits of the 190kmlong Delhi Metro network. The numbers are certainly eyeopener. According to CRRI, the Metro also saved 32 minutes on every trip taken by a commuter. This is a jump from the 28 minutes saved in 2011.
Delhi Metro saved Rs 1,972 crore in fuel conserved. In absolute terms, it saved 2.7 lakh tonnes of fuel in 2014 as against 1.06 lakh tonnes in 2011. The savings in cost of vehicle capital and operation was Rs 2,617 crore while indi vidually, Delhi Metro commuters saved Rs 4,107 crore in terms of money from time saved.
That's not all. The Delhi Metro also impacted the accident figures in the city. The annual reduction in fatal accidents was 125 in 2014 as against 111 and 21 in 2011 and 2007 respectively when Phase II of the network was constructed. The annual reduction in terms of accidents per se was 937 in 2014 as against 591 and 93 in 2011 and 2007 respectively .
The amount from time and fuel saved due to decongestion resulting from Delhi Metro is Rs 491 crore. Savings from reduction in pollution due to Metro was Rs 489 crore. In fact, the total savings from all the benefits is Rs 10, 364 crore in 2014. All the figures are based on a daily ridership of 27 lakh.
DMRC also introduced a number of features this year.Besides the opening of two stations Janpath and Mandi House -the Delhi Metro also converted 11 trains into eightcoach trains, maintained an average punctuality percentage of 99.88% and increased the ridership by over 20,000 passengers from last year.
The ‘lines’
Airport Express line
DMRC was wary about PPP model
Rumu Banerjee, DMRC was wary about PPP model for IGI Metro , May 15, 2017: The Times of India
A contentious project from the start, the viability and contractual arrangements of the Airport Express line have deeply bothered the Delhi Metro -which built the line -and raised questions of political and corporate complicity.
Conceived in 2008, it was the first Metro project that took the PPP route. Officials associated with the initial days of the project say that while the idea was to have an operational airport link by 2010, when the Commonwealth Games would take place, then Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan had reservations about the PPP model. Subsequent events seem to prove him right. The then Delhi government and UPA at the Centre were insistent in the line going through even though DMRC demurred.
The project was envisaged in two parts: the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) would build the civil structure (and spend around half of the Rs 5,700-crore project cost) while DAMEPL, which had got the rolling stock, would run it for 30 years.
Pretty early into the const ruction though, cracks in the partnership started to appear as estimations over construction period, deadlines and later, ridership went off-track.
Scheduled to become operational in time for the CWG 2010, the project failed to meet deadlines, eventually opening in January 2011. Estimates made on ridership and revenue from real estate rentals also proved way off the mark.
The project had been deemed feasible based on an esitmated ridership of 40,000 passengers daily. RITES, a railway's consultancy arm, which was given the job to evaluate the technical feasibility of the line, had based its passenger numbers on the development of Aerocity around the Delhi airport, which was being developed by GMR on a public-private-partnership (PPP) basis, said sources. However, the Aerocity didn't take off at the time. Ri dership figures remained at a dismal 10,000-13,000 daily . More importantly for R-Infra, it managed to monetise only a tiny fraction of its real estate.
Interestingly , while the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Infrastructure had offered money to DMRC to operate the line, others bidding had asked for an annual subsidy or interest-free debt, said officials connected with the project.
Not surprisingly , the impact was felt early on, in the revenue collections. At the time, Delhi Metro had made a point about this, accusing R-Infra of trying to wriggle out of the project. In fact, in a statement of claim filed by DMRC on November 11, 2013, DMRC alleged that the real reason for the termination notice was actually a financial reason as DAMEPL found the project financially unviable.
DAMEPL though claims it had given DMRC adequate time to fix the civil defects -in its notice it had given DMRC 90 days, the actual repairs took almost six months. It used this to exit the agreement but questions remained over its engagement with the project and terms of a contract that could see tax payer money flow to the private player in case of an annulment.
Heritage corridor line (Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate)
The Times of India, June 8, 2016
The Times of India
Rumu Banerjee
With an available manoeuvrability of only 78cm, building a tunnel may not seem like the easiest of things. Yet, that's what the Delhi Metro has done at the upcoming phase III station at Kashmere Gate.
The tunnels for the up and down line for the Heritage corridor--from Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate--have been constructed between the pillars of the existing elevated Red line. Stationed less than 10m apart, the pillars acted as the “bookends“ for the tunnels, which needed to go diagonally ( across the Heritage line coming from Red Fort. Said DMRC t spokesman Anuj Dayal, “The i space was minimal for the tunp nels as the pillars are further enclosed in pier caps. The space between the outer perimeter of the tunnel and the pier cap is 780-800 millimetres at both the up and down line.“
Engineers who undertook the construction admit that the task was fraught with risk, not to mention heightened requirement for precision construction. “The entire stretch, where the tunnel crosses the pillars, is only 20m but the task took 15 days to perform,“ said a Delhi Metro official.
That's not the only engineering marvel DMRC has achieved on the corridor. With two lines already criss-crossing at the Kashmere Gate station -the Red line (Rithala to Dilshad Garden) and the Yellow line (Huda City Centre to Samaypur Badli) -the Heritage line station had to be accommodated in the space left between the platforms of these two lines. “It was a close, confined space, but we wanted to utilise every inch.So the platform for the Heritage line had to be built in a tapered way . As a result, the platform is 14m on the south end--on the Red Fort side--and only 8.5m on the north side,“ added Dayal.
The continuous flow of surface traffic--the station abuts the Kashmere Gate ISBT and a major arterial road--ensured that disruptions had to be kept to the minimum, say officials.“The presence of ASI monuments, especially the wall of the Kashmere Gate, is right along the station. So we had to constantly monitor the work,“ said Dayal.
The Kashmere Gate wall, incidentally , is right above the tunnel of the Heritage line, which goes 11m below. DMRC had to get special clearance from the National Monuments Authority for the station work.
Located 19m below ground, the new station may not be the deepest--Hauz Khas Metro station has that distinction--but it's certainly the only station in the Metro network that will have three interchanges. The ridership of the Kashmere Gate station in phase III is supposed to outstrip the Rajiv Chowk station, with an expected footfall of 5.5 lakh per day .
Interestingly, the road above the station, which has been diverted at present, will be relaid, with the same soil that had been taken out. “Over 1 lakh cubic metre of soil has been taken out from the station site during the construction. Almost 30% of this will be brought back to re-lay the road once the construction is over,“ Dayal added.
Heritage line, some facts
Metro comes to Shah Jahan's city, May 27 2017: The Times of India
Completing the 9.37km Heritage Line, which itself is a portion of the Violet Line between Janpath and now Kashmere Gate, the 5.17-km-long section onward from ITO will be inaugurated on May 28 by union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi Metro will start carrying people onward to Kashmere Gate from noon that day .
The four stations on the section -Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Lal Quila and Kashmere Gate -will take the number of stations in the Delhi Metro network to 164, while extending the length of the urban rail system to 218km. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) expects 90,000 people to eventually use the Heritage Line daily . “It will, however, take some time for the ridership to go up to this figure. We don't expect a footfall of 90,000 from day one itself,“ a DMRC official said.
The corridor has been designated as the Heritage Line as it goes past various historical landmarks such as Jantar Mantar, Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid and Red Fort. “After the commissioning of the section from ITO, residents of Faridabad and the south Delhi localities of Govindpuri, Kalkaji, Nehru Place, East of Kailash, etc will be able to travel directly to Old Delhi and vice versa,“ a DMRC spokesperson said.
Commuters travelling on the Yellow Line between Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate will also then have the alternative of using the Violet Line to reach the same destinations. This will result in the decongestion of certain stations, like Rajiv Chowk.
On Sunday , the Kashmere Gate station will also become the first interchange facility of the Delhi Metro system to provide interconnectivity among three corridors -the Violet, Red and Yellow Lines.DMRC said that it has arranged seamless and smooth connectivity between the newly constructed station at Kash mere Gate and the existing Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) and Yellow Line (HUDA City Centre-Samaypur Badli).
DMRC had tied up with heritage promoter INTACH for decor at the stations. “Since the corridor passes through areas of great historical importance, the stations have panels and artworks depicting the glory of the bygone era,“ the spokesperson said. He emphasised that adequate care had been taken during construction to ensure the monuments in proximity were not harmed. The National Monuments Authority cleared the Heritage Line on February 13, 2013.
The spokesperson added, “After the commissioning of this section, the entire 9.37km Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate section will be operational and become a part of the 43.4km-long Escorts Mujesar-Kashmere Gate Violet Line. This corridor is also being currently extended by 3.2km from Escorts Mujesar to Ballabhgarh.“
The trains
Driverless trains
90% of driverless trains manufactured in India, Nov 07 2016 : The Times of India
The safety of Delhi Metro's unattended trains has come under sharp focus. The trains, built by Korean company Hyundai Rotem, are being partly manufactured in India by Bharat Earth Movers Limited, a public sector undertaking.
While around 20 trainsets are being imported from Hyundai Rotem, the remaining 504 coaches will be manufactured in BEML factories. These trains, according to SS Joshi, executive director (rolling stock), DMRC, have been designed by Hyundai Rotem, but are being manufactured in the country as part of the contract obligations.
“It follows the Make-in India concept, but with the express criterion that the quality of trains manufactured is of the same level as Hyundai Rotem's. We have a team stationed at the BEML factory that monitors the quality of the trains being manufactured,“ said Joshi.
Deepak Kumar Hota, CMD of BEML, added: “A large part of the components of a metro coach are sourced from local SMEs. We supply nearly 46% of the metro train demand by different corporations in the country .“
The driverless trains will operate on lines 7 and 8, that is, Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar and Janakpuri (west) to Botanical Garden, respectively .
One of the notable safety features added to these trains is fire detection equipment. Cameras on track to detect cracks, obstruction detection devices for deployment of brakes in case of any obstruction, platform screen doors and improved communication between passengers and operation control room are some other high points.
“Besides all this, Delhi Metro will continue deploying an operator inside the trains for some time to address passenger complaints or queries,“ said Joshi.
Fire safety norms
2011-16: 25 stations flout norms
The Times of India, June 3, 2016
Himanshi Dhawan
At least 25 Delhi Metro stations flouted fire safety norms for periods ranging from one month to two years over the past five years.This includes high traffic stations like HUDA City Centre, Nehru Place, Dhaula Kuan, Okhla, Tilak Nagar, Moolchand and Kailash Colony .Information accessed through RTI shows that some like Vaishali station on Line 4 and Kirti Nagar on Line 5 do not have a fire no-objection certificate even now. The information was given by DMRC to Gurgaon-based IT manager Sudhir Yadav. DMRC has admitted that it failed to get a fire NOC for 32 stations. Some lapses were only for a few days. However, amongst those stations that did not get a fire NOC for a significantly long period of time include Tilak Nagar which did not have fire clearance from 2014 till February this year. HUDA city centre did not have a fire NOC for a year between May 2011 to May 2012 and then again for two years between February 2014 to January 2016 indicating a casual attitude towards safety standards.
Some stations like Tugh laqabad did not have a fire NOC for 21months, Sivaji stadium did not have clearances for 16 months while others like Kailash Colony , Okhla and Nehru Place had no fire checks for 15 months between 2013-2014. Lajpat Nagar, Moolchand stations went unaccounted for a year, while New Delhi station on the airport line did not have a fire NOC for 10 months. “When Delhi govern ment introduced odd even scheme, I preferred to use the Metro instead of taking cab or bus. But I was worried the safety measures taken because of how crowded the stations are. I filed a RTI application asking for the fire NOC of all the Metro stations. I was shocked when I received the response, Yadav said.
The stations
Ashram: vertical design
DMRC Couldn't Build Horizontal Station As Land Acquisition Didn't Work Out, Had To Go Vertical The Delhi Metro station at Ashram, part of the Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vi har), will be a busy station.But constructing this important stop was a huge challenge for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. A private plot, which comprised almost 40% of the land earmarked for the station, couldn't be acquired, and this left the planners in a big quandary . It took all of DMRC's ingenuity to come up with a unique station design with an extra floor. “The planning and the detailed design of the station had been done and construction was under way when we ran into constraints in acquiring private land under which the proposed station box was to be constructed,“ said a DMRC spokesperson.“The construction work was held up with adverse effect on the completion time of the project.“
The spokesperson added that an existing flyover on one side of the station box, or the space of the entire station area, and an apartment on the other side left DMRC with no option for shifting or relocating the station box.
DMRC had to come up with an alternative design for the underground station in south Delhi, though this posed a challenge as it restricted the length of the station box. “The length of platform for a typical six-coach train is 140 metres. Here it was reduced to 135 metres, which is just enough to ensure a 3-metre width in front of the passenger doors and driver cabin door,“ the spokes person said.
In addition, the centre line of platform has been shifted by 57 metres form has been shifted by 57 metres towards Hazrat Nizamuddin station to keep the platform length within the station box. The spokesperson said that would ensure passenger service area, including the platform, stairs, escalators and lifts, remained undisturbed.
DMRC had to build a mezzanine floor between the platform and concourse floors to make space available for passengers and to accommodate utilities such as the air ventilation system. The automatic fare collection gates were shifted from the concourse level to the mezzanine floor.
The tunnel ventilating system, which usually lies next to the rail tracks, was shifted to the mezzanine level due to paucity of space. The two ventilation nozzles were also built vertical and on top of one another to save space. As a result, the ventilation system took up just eight metres instead of the usual 40 metres of space
The names of Metro stations
Renaming stations
Rumu Banerjee, Rename other Metro stations too: RWAs Oct 03 2016 : The Times of India
Delhi Metro's 2016 decision to rename the Race Course Metro station to Lok Kalyan Marg has opened a can of worms. Some residents welfare associations want the names of other stations changed as well.
Sample list (from the present name> to the proposed name)
Arjangarh Metro station> to Aya Nagar
Ashok Park Main> to Rampura
Surajmal stadium> to Maharaja Surajmal stadium
Udyog Nagar> Jwalapuri
A committee set up by Delhi Metro in 2015 rejected the requests claiming technical and cost considerations. DMRC recently said it would start the process of renaming RCR station by first changing the name boards and then the name in the automatic announcement system, maps etc. DMRC has till now consis tently refused the RWAs requests. In case of Arjangarh station alone, which has more than 50 trains running, Delhi Metro would have to spend Rs 5-6 crore, DMRC said.
Other concerns include changes in the signalling, public address, telecom and fare collection systems. Specific station code, where each stop is assigned a code to avoid repetition in the name as per the Indian Railway Conference Association regulations, was also cited as a major reason for rejecting the claims.
NGO Guru Hanuman Society of India argues, “The demand has been long pending. Arjangarh is only an Air Force station. The area is called Aya Nagar, so the station should reflect that,“
Crime
2016: 91% pickpockets are women
91% pickpockets held in Metro by CISF are women, Dec 28 2016: The Times of India
Continuing the trend witnessed over the past few years, women constitute over 91% of pickpockets apprehended by the CISF in the Delhi Metro network in the National Capital Region.
The force that is tasked to provide armed security to Metro apprehended a total of 479 pickpockets, of which 438 were women, according to official data.
The full-year data, updated till the middle of December, states that the security force undertook a little over 100 operations to check pickpocketing in the Metro that carries an estimated 26 lakh commuters every day.
Fare structure
2017: An increase in fare
Passenger profile
2017
Rumu Banerjee, Rich keep away as Metro crowds kill comfort, Mar 31, 2017: The Times of India
An internal survey by Delhi Metro has revealed that the maximum number of passengers have a monthly income of Rs 20,000-50,000. Only 9.56% are in the Rs 50,000-1 lakh bracket while those with an income of more than a lakh are a minuscule 1.67%. Therein lies the rub. The relatively affluent seem to be staying away from an efficient mode of public transport which is air-conditioned and has world-class facilities. Contrast this with the fact that the number of registered vehicles in the city has crossed one crore. The survey , in which over a lakh participated, was conducted by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in August last year. It not only exposes the limited utility of public transport that's increasingly getting crowded and suffers from a lack of last-mile connectivity .
About 18.4% of the participants said they accessed the Metro using their own vehicle; 20.23% used a bus; 14.14% e-rickshaw; 8.23% autorickshaws; 8.10% rickshaws; 3.45% taxis; 11.51% walked; and only 14.31% used feeder buses.
One of the reasons cited for the reluctance to shift to Metro is the increasing peak-hour traffic. Delhi Metro's peak hours are 8-11am in the morning and 5-8pm in the evening. During this period, the Delhi Metro runs 188 trains as against174 during the rest of time.
Madhu Tiwari, who travels daily from Noida to Gurgaon, complains: “I take the train from Mayur VIhar station till HUDA City Centre.It's packed every single day , more so the ladies coach. But I don't have any option as driving across that distance every day will be insane.“
Anumita RoyChowdhury of Centre for Science and Environment agrees that comfort is a factor. “This shows that only a comfortable Metro ride is not enough to change the commuting decision of the car-owning middle class as people want the complete comfort of a journey from their origin to destination.“ Amit Bhatt of WRI India, a transport think-tank, concurs: “We have seen from global examples that only public transport, no matter how good the quality , is not enough to restrict car use.“ Bhatt says that if the city wants to “move pe ople instead of vehicles, it needs to double its bus fleet in a short space of time“ and improve the quality of Metro operations.
Interestingly , while Delhi Metro's network has increased from 193km in 2014 to 212.4km in 2016, the rolling stock or coaches haven't kept pace. Delhi Metro, which has asked for an additional stock of 916 coaches for the existing network, hasn't got the go-ahead from the government yet. Meanwhile, ridership has been going north: from 23.5 lakh daily in 2014 to 28.4 lakh in 2017.
So what's the solution? RoyChowdhury believes public transport can compete if for last and first mile, there is “ease and efficiency and more direct connectivity“. Bhatt points out: “Delhi has 21% area under roads, while London has 9%, New York has 13% and Singapore has 4.8%. Besides, parking is almost free in Delhi. This basically means that Delhi is by design prioritizing use of cars and two-wheelers and, therefore, people who can afford, use private modes.“
It's not all bleak though.According to RoyChowdhury, the survey also shows that more bus users or noncar owning community have moved to improved Metro service. “This is a good sign as this means Metro is working as an incentive to retain the public transport riders in the system,“ she said.
Technical issues
2017: repeated issues on Blue, the busiest line
Sidhartha Roy, Why snags are new normal on Blue line, June 15, 2017: The Times of India
Bird Hits, Pollution Pose Major Threat To Metro's Busiest Route
What ails the busiest route of Delhi Metro after all?
DMRC claims there are multiple reasons, the prime one being that the corridor has the longest elevated section, which is exposed to the elements, making it vulnerable to glitches. Sharat Sharma, director (operations), DMRC, said that the elevated section of the Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21Noida City Centre Vaishali) is nearly 54 kms long. The longest corridor -the Yellow Line (Samaypur BadliHUDA City Centre) -has just 25.73 kms of elevated section in comparison.
“We have to see how much of the corridor is exposed to surrounding areas. An elevated line is also more exposed to the atmosphere,“ Sharma said, adding that it passes through dense residential areas. “We will soon witness storms in Delhi and that is the time when all kinds of objects, including tree branches, cloth sheets, banners, etc, get blown away and get entangled in wi res,“ he said. Once, the Blue Line faced a snag when an electric pole fell on the wires during a storm.
Another major concern is the high level of air pollution in the trans-Yamuna section, Sharma said. Pollutants have an impact on the overhead equipment, which needs regular cleaning to maintain efficiency , he added.
DMRC also faces problems when it comes to daily maintenance of the corridor.“The more a line expands, the less time is available for maintenance,“ Sharma said. The Blue Line ferries about 10 lakh passengers daily , which requires 762 train trips on average. Regular maintenance work can begin between the period post 11.30pm (last trip) and before 6am (first trip).
“In case of big break downs, we have to get on the roof of the catenary maintenance vehicle (CMV),“ Sharma added. The CMVs are located at the two maintenance depots of Blue Line--at Yamuna Bank and Najafgarh.The distance factor also contributes to delay in repair and maintenance.
On Tuesday , an eagle had hit the electrical cable. Birds are a big problem for DMRC.“Some areas, such as R K Ashram Marg, has more avian population. We have covered many parts with nets to avoid nesting of birds,“ Sharma said. The Blue Line has also seen its fair share of signalling failures, but the senior DMRC official said that the signalling technology , though a decade and a half old, is not a problem.
Though DMRC cannot promise that the Blue Line wouldn't face any more breakdown, senior officials claim that the even response time has improved. Sharma said that the breakdown on Tuesday could have taken up to five hours to restore but DMRC did it in about two and half hours.“The number of inspections have gone up and in case of breakdowns, senior officials are sent to the spot to supervise,“ Sharma said.
Ridership
From The Times of India
2016
Ridership was 100 crore in 2016: Metro, Mar 31 2017: The Times of India
As of March 29, Delhi Metro ranks tenth in terms of ridership among the top 34 metro systems in the world. Delhi Metro announced that 100 crore riders used the network in the financial year 2016.
It crossed the one billion mark for the first time, establishing itself as the “mass transportation backbone of the NCR“, said a statement issued by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
The statement further added that since April 1, 2016, a total of 1.001billion (100.165 crores) passengers travelled by the Delhi Metro, registering a 6.56% growth in average daily ridership since the last financial year 2015-16. The average daily ridership has increased by 43% in the last five years. “Delhi Metro currently operates with a fleet of 227 train sets comprising 128 six coach, 58 eight coach and 41 four coach trains across all its corridors,“ said the statement.
The process of adding 258 coaches to its fleet started last October and the process is scheduled to be completed by the end of the next financial year. The cumulative ridership in the last financial year was 94.69 crore.
==2013-17, an increase== Ridership grew steadily on IGI Metro, May 12, 2017: The Times of India
45,000 Use Line Every Day; Slashed Fares, Smart Cards Got More Passengers
In the four years since Delhi Metro took over the operations of Airport Express Line, it has seen a relatively steady growth in ridership. Fares have been slashed to get more passengers on board and Metro's push for smart cards has worked well. The average daily ridership on the airport link is 45,000.
When Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) took over the line in 2013, it was a different story altogether. The “high-speed“ link -which was re-opened after being shut because of defects in civil structure in January that year -started at 50kmph and was carrying only 9,000 passengers daily .
In August 2016, Airport Express Line crossed the 50,000 ridership figure, a huge jump from the 12,000 in March 2014. The figure was at 19,466 in 2015. According to Delhi Metro, the daily average ridership has now settled between 44,000 and 45,000. To ensure that more people use this line, DMRC revised the fare twice and made several passenger-friendly changes.The maximum fare has been reduced to Rs 60 while the minimum is now Rs 10.
Various other steps like extension of timings to suit passengers of Shatabdi Express trains, improvement of frequency from 15 minutes to 10 minutes 30 seconds, improvement of speed from 70 kmph to 80 kmph, seamless interchange between the Indian Railways station at New Delhi and Metro stations have been taken.
Metro smart cards were made valid for travel on the line from May 1, 2015. On August 12, 2016, the ridership reached 50,077. The increase in footfall resulted in a rise in both fare and non-fare revenue.
Services, additional-
2017: Free wi-fi on Blue Line
Free Wi-Fi at all 50 Blue Line stations, August 26, 2017: The Times of India
Delhi Metro commuters travelling in the Blue Line will now be able to enjoy free Wi-Fi at stations.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has also promised to give the facility at stations on Yellow Line and inside the trains on Airport Express Line by early next year.The high-speed Wi-Fi facility on Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City CentreVaishali) was launched at the Rajiv Chowk metro station on Friday by DMRC managing director Mangu Singh.
The facility -Oui DMRC Free Wi-Fi -will be available on all 50 stations of the line, a DMRC spokesperson said. Commuters will be able to log in after a one-time registration through their mobile phones. “They will be able to use all standard internet applications at the station,“ he said.
The spokesperson added, “For providing this free Wi-Fi facility, DMRC has tied up with a consortium led by Ms Techno Sat Comm that has already been giving the facility on all six Metro stations of the Airport Express Line since October 2016. It is also running India's first Wi-Fi on train on the Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express. The facility will use the T-Track 2.0 Wave 2 Solution, also used on highspeed trains worldwide“.
