Anticipating a heavy rush of passengers during the annual India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan here, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has already got down to streamlining its operations for the fortnight-long exposition.
The trade fair which is scheduled to begin on November 14 will mean a huge increase in footfalls at metro stations, especially the one near Pragati Maidan.
Going by past record, DMRC officials say they are expecting the figures to increase significantly. During the fair last year, the average ridership at the Pragati Maidan metro station alone was about 50,000 passengers per day.
“Normally the Pragati Maidan station records a ridership figure of about 16,000 per day,” said an official.
For the upcoming fair which will continue up to November 27, the DMRC will open more token sale counters to avoid serpentine queues at the stations. “All manual counters will be earmarked for a particular destination and denomination of token. To avoid intermingling of passengers and to control the crowds efficiently all tokens will be sold from the ground floor only and sale of tokens from counters at the concourse level will be stopped,” the official said.
At stations that have high footfalls even on normal days, the DMRC will take additional measures to ensure that the crowds are managed well and there are no untoward incidents.
“Additional Customer Facilitation Agents will be deployed at stations that have a high inflow of passengers like the Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate stations for guiding and managing crowd in the ticketing area,” the official said.
Security being a major concern, the DMRC also plans to enhance the security cover by deploying extra security personnel at platforms, automatic fare collection gates, escalators, lifts, and token counters at the Pragati Maidan station on weekdays. Extra door-frame metal detectors will be put up for faster security check of passengers.
Signs listing details about the metro and the direction that commuters need to follow will also be put up. These indicators will guide commuters on the way towards platforms, token counters, and entry/exit points, will display security messages, system maps, fare charts and other relevant passenger information.
Passenger amenities like mobile toilet vans and water tankers will also be installed near the IITF entrance in coordination with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Delhi Jal Board.
“Extra trains will be run with increased frequency and the schedule for that will be worked out soon,” the official said.
