In order to decongest the Rajiv Chowk station, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has decided to run empty trains from Central Secretariat to Rajiv Chowk..
With an everyday footfall of 5 lakh passengers, the interchange station poses a great challenge on the operations and maintenance fronts.
“A special train that starts at Central Secretariat and goes towards Rajiv Chowk is being run between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Line 2 that allows the passengers assembled at Rajiv Chowk to board an empty train. This exercise was started a week ago and helps us to clear the station,” said DMRC Director Operations, Raj Kumar.
Passengers are not allowed to board the special train at Central Secretariat or Patel Chowk stations. “There is a heavy rush of passengers at Central Secretariat. We noticed that by the time the trains reach Rajiv Chowk they are usually full and the passengers waiting at the station find it difficult to board the train. For every fourth of fifth train trip one special train trip is run, depending on the crowd situation,” said Mr. Kumar.
More Escalators
The DMRC has also added three more escalators to help clear congestion at the Rajiv Chowk station. “The number of escalators has been increased to nine and this also helps clear the platforms faster,” said Mr. Kumar.
In about a month’s time, 6 coach trains will be introduced into the system. “We will start with the lines that are very congested, like Line 3 (Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida City Centre), on which 59 trains are operational. Over the next few months we will introduce six coach trains on Line 3 and subsequently on line 2,” said the DMRC official.
Out of the 59 train operational on Line 3, 39 will be six coach trains and 36 out of 45 on Line 2 will also be six coach trains. Mr. Kumar said by the end of 2011 all the trains will be converted to six coach ones. “We will however continue to use the four car coaches on stretches that are not too crowded,” he said.
On the issue of frequent signalling and power related snags, Mr. Kumar said the metro is currently running 2,700 trips per day carrying 1.5 million passengers, who on an average travel a distance of 17 km each. “On such a vast network snags are bound to occur. We are however maintaining a frequency of 2 minutes 40 seconds on Line 2.”
“The challenges that we face apart from the technical ones are mainly man-made. For instance we have passengers delaying trains by not allowing the doors to close or stealing cables. On Thursday there was damage to cables near Jasola on the Central Secretariat - Sarita Vihar corridor by rats who cut the cables,” he pointed out.
