DMRC to try crowd control, make trains skip stations

The Delhi Metro is mulling crowd control in the near future due to “ever” rising footfall at stations, said Director (Operations) Sharat Sharma at the 12th anniversary of the Delhi Metro on Wednesday.

Over the years energy consumption has been increased by three per cent and “bills” have gone up by eight per cent, added Sharma. “Due to the rising footfall we have to take precautionary steps like crowd management and increase frequency of trains during peak hours,” Sharma said.

Asked if Metro is going to stop people from entering stations, the Director (Operations) said, “There are two ways of dealing with a problem, either prepare yourself in advance or face it head on. The Delhi Metro is trying to keep all its options open.”

“The international practice is to close the entry to some stations and make trains skip a few others. We are mulling such possibilities and when the time comes we might have to take such extreme steps,” he told Deccan Herald.

“It’s the only way to manage the ever increasing crowd.”

Managing Director of DMRC Mangu Singh said the first corridor of Delhi Metro, the Red Line, will soon have all six-coach trains. “The crowd at the Red Line has increased many folds in the past two to three years. So the DMRC is going to convert all four-coach trains into six-coach,” Singh said.

According to DMRC, the year 2014 was eventful for the Delhi Metro as a host of new initiatives were taken for the benefit of the commuters.

“In January, the Delhi Metro became the first ever Metro and Railway system in the world to be registered with the prestigious Gold Standard foundation, which is a globally accepted certification standard for carbon mitigation projects,” the DMRC said in a statement.

A 3.23 kilometre-long Metro section from Central Secretariat to Mandi House (totally underground) was opened for public in June. This section is a part of Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate line (9.37 km) of Phase 3 which is an extension of the presently operational Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor (22 km).

The DMRC, in keeping with the objectives of National Solar Mission, framed and implemented its solar policy in July. “India’s first ever solar power plant at a Metro station was inaugurated at Dwarka Sector 21 in August,” the DMRC said.

“The units generated by this 500 kWp roof top plant are being used for the electricity requirements at this station. This is the largest roof top plant with such capacity in the entire Delhi-NCR under the Renewable Energy Service model.”

The Delhi Metro recorded highest ever ridership of 28,87,303 on September 8.