Even a month after the renaming of the Race Course Metro station as Lok Kalyan Marg station, the recorded announcements in moving trains continue to identify it with its old name.
This is causing problems for tourists and newcomers to the city. The maps on the official website of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and its app also reflect the station’s old name,'Race Course'. This is in spite of the road on which the station is situated being renamed last month at a high-level New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) meeting attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The signs at the Metro station have been changed, and stickers with the new name put on the route display inside the trains. But the announcements haven't changed. “I nearly missed the station while travelling in the train as I was relying on the announcement,” said K Suresh, a student from Maharshtra who is on a visit to the capital.
Metro officials said the process to change the station’s name on the website map and also in the in-train announcements takes time. “It’s a technical process and takes lot of time. We cannot give a time frame as to when the announcements would be changed as it requires software changes,” said Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal. The announcements, which are based on a centralised recording system, have to be rerecorded and this cannot be done for a single Metro station, said a Metro official.
Similarly, switching station names on the maps requires a design change, which is being finalised. After the recorded announcement message is changed it will have to be tested at a time when the passenger service is not running, he said. As a primary step, the name on the signs at platform and on boards outside the underground station have been changed to Lok Kalyan Marg, he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi had proposed changing the name of Race Course Road to Ekatma Marg, based on Deen Dayal Upadhyay's philosophy. But a consensus could be built only on Lok Kalyan Marg as the new name for the road. The Prime Minister’s official residential address, which was popularly known as 7, Race Course Road, is now 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Last year, Aurangzeb Road, close to the Race Course Road, was renamed A P J Abdul Kalam Road.
This is causing problems for tourists and newcomers to the city. The maps on the official website of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and its app also reflect the station’s old name,'Race Course'. This is in spite of the road on which the station is situated being renamed last month at a high-level New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) meeting attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The signs at the Metro station have been changed, and stickers with the new name put on the route display inside the trains. But the announcements haven't changed. “I nearly missed the station while travelling in the train as I was relying on the announcement,” said K Suresh, a student from Maharshtra who is on a visit to the capital.
Metro officials said the process to change the station’s name on the website map and also in the in-train announcements takes time. “It’s a technical process and takes lot of time. We cannot give a time frame as to when the announcements would be changed as it requires software changes,” said Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal. The announcements, which are based on a centralised recording system, have to be rerecorded and this cannot be done for a single Metro station, said a Metro official.
Similarly, switching station names on the maps requires a design change, which is being finalised. After the recorded announcement message is changed it will have to be tested at a time when the passenger service is not running, he said. As a primary step, the name on the signs at platform and on boards outside the underground station have been changed to Lok Kalyan Marg, he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Meenakshi Lekhi had proposed changing the name of Race Course Road to Ekatma Marg, based on Deen Dayal Upadhyay's philosophy. But a consensus could be built only on Lok Kalyan Marg as the new name for the road. The Prime Minister’s official residential address, which was popularly known as 7, Race Course Road, is now 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Last year, Aurangzeb Road, close to the Race Course Road, was renamed A P J Abdul Kalam Road.