Delhi Metro: An "imperfect boon"!!

n the year 1995, the Government of India and the Government of Delhi jointly set up the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in 1995. The construction started in 1998, and the first section, on the Red Line, opened in 2002, followed by the Yellow Line in 2004, the Blue Line in 2005, its branch line in 2009, the Green and Violet Lines in 2010. Subsequently, these lines have been extended and new lines are under construction in Phase II of the project, including the Delhi Airport Metro Express whose opening has been postponed until January 2011 due to safety concerns. Despite all of the delays in opening, the Airport Express Line finally opened on February 23, 2011.
The Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida in the National Capital Region of India. The network consists of six lines with a total length of 189.63 kilometers (117.83 mi) with 142 stations of which 35 are underground. It has a combination of elevated, at-grade and underground lines and uses both broad gauge and standard gauge rolling stock. Delhi Metro is being built and operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC). As of November 2010, DMRC operates around 2,700 trips daily between 6:00 and 23:00 running with an interval of 2.5 minutes between trains at peak frequency. The trains have four coaches, but there are plans to shift to six coach trains to increase capacity. The power output is supplied by 25-kilovolt, 50 Hertz alternating current through overhead catenaries. The metro has an average daily ridership of 1.5 million commuters, and, as of August 2010, had carried over 1.25 billion commuters since its inception.
The metro services are definitely a big boon to the commuters of Delhi. The metro has contributed to reduction in pollution and has also contributed to considerable relief in the macro traffic chaos on the roads of Delhi. Metro is safer than other means of transport in Delhi, especially for women. The recent introduction of exclusive women coaches in the metro promise more security to the female commuters. Metro is not only safer but it is even cost effective and time saving.
Though Delhi metro has proven to be a successful mode of conveyance in the national capital but as they say...every entity comprises both the aspects...positive as well as negative. Same is the case with metro services in Delhi.
There have been certain accidents during the construction period of metro. On October 19, 2008, a girder launcher and a part of the overhead Blue Line extension under construction in Laxmi Nagar, East Delhi collapsed and fell on passing vehicles underneath. Workers were lifting a 400-tonne concrete span of the bridge with the help of a crane when the launcher collapsed along with a 34 meters (112 ft) long span of the bridge on top of a Blue line bus killing the driver and a laborer. On July 12, 2009, a portion of a bridge under construction collapsed when its launching girder lost balance as it was being erected at Zamrudpur, near East of Kailash, on the Central Secretariat – Badarpur corridor. Six people were killed and 15 others injured. The day after, on July 13, 2009, a crane that was removing the debris collapsed, and with a bowling pin effect collapsed two other nearby cranes, injuring six. On July 22, 2009 a steel beam fell on a worker at the under-construction Ashok Park Metro station, killing him. Over a hundred people, including 93 workers, have died since work on the metro began in 1998.

As the network has expanded, high ridership and technical snags in new trains have led to increasing instances of overcrowding and delays on the Delhi Metro. To alleviate the problem, orders for new coaches have been placed and an increase in the frequency of trains has been proposed. Infrequent, overcrowded and erratic feeder bus services connecting stations to nearby localities have also been reported as an area of concern. In 2010, severe overcrowding on the Yellow Line, which connects the north and south campuses of Delhi University, was reported to be a reason for students missing or reporting late for classes.


Crowd in Delhi metro has increased to a very chaotic and perturbing level. The Metro ferries around 950,000 commuters daily on its nearly 190-km network. During peak travel hours that last till 8.30 p.m. around 16 customer service executives’ men are present on platforms to direct crowds, later this number reduces to four. As far as the harried commuter is concerned, it is becoming a mess by the day. As more and more people are using the metro for their daily use, the fact of the matter is that the metro has run out of space and commuters are turning rude in their behavior as the time is passing by.
The DMRC is consistently improvising the conditions in Delhi metro. Significant steps have been taken in theses contexts like introduction of smart cards to reduce queues at the token counters, introduction of women coaches and addition of extra coaches on busy routes. Delhi metro is a boon for delhites and it can definitely attain the level of perfection by the co-operation of commuters and alert steps by the authorities.


So, wake up Delhi…be co-operative and disciplined commuters and help the authorities build up the Delhi metro into a “perfect boon”.