Delhi Metro - Lifeline of the Delhites and National Capital Region

Every day thousands of commuters use Delhi Metro to reach their destination which is now spread to areas in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh making many remote areas of the NCR a well lightning and a happening place. The web of metro has made the transport easy, safe, reliable, affordable and has reduced pollution in the city by 6.3 lakh tons every year thus helping in reducing global warming and it had become the first ever railway project in the world to claim carbon credits (Carbon credits, also known as carbon offsets, are permits that allow the owner to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.) for regenerative braking. Let us know how this project began and and its current coverage area.

How the idea emerged?

It is said that the idea emerged on studying the travel and traffic characteristics of people in 1969 and then planning the routes and the technology available in the subsequent years. As the population was increasing and traffic became a huge problem for Delhites, the solution was on the cards and during the 1980s and 90s, Delhi relied heavily on public road transport such as buses, auto rickshaws and bicycle rickshaw's but it had become a huge problem due to rising number of commuters and traffic congestions, rising the pollution levels and time for travelling in the city. then the Delhi Development authority and Urban Arts Commission came up with the idea of Delhi Metro and subsequently the DMRC was set up on 3 May 1995 jointly by Government of Delhi and Government of India under PM H.D Deve Gowda, with Elattuvalapil Sreedharan as the Managing Director and later Mangu Singh on 31 December 2011.

The start of Work

The work started on the Metro by 1 October 1998 but the real catch with this metro project was that usually doesn't happens in India often, that DMRC was given full powers in executing and decision making, they could hire anybody and decide on tenders and funds and plan it without any interference. It also took help from Hong Kong MRTC during this phase. India already had experienced a failure in this regard while executing the Kolkata Metro as it was terribly high than the proposed budget due to delays and technical and political hurdles.

The first metro was started on 24 December 2002 inaugurated by the PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the Red Line as the first corridor running between Shahdara and Tis Hazari. Subsequently, the first phase of construction worth 65 kilometers of Metro lines was finished two years and nine months ahead of schedule in 2005. Since then the DMRC has also completed the construction of another 125 kilometers of Metro corridors under the second phase in only four and a half years. Now take a look at the animation below to see how far the Delhi metro had come with a web built in so many years (sourced from Wikipedia).

The present network and some facts associated with DMRC

Presently, the Delhi Metro network consists of about 390.14 Km with 286 stations as per the website of DMRC and it is now reaching Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, Ballabgarh, Greater Noida. Also, the Magenta line that runs from Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden are the new age trains equipped with the Unattended Train Operation (UTO) technology. These trains operate with the Communication Based Train Control(CBTC) signaling technology which facilitate movement of trains in very short frequencies.

One fact which you would stike if you have travelled in Delhi Metro that who that voice is that tells you about which station is next or to stand way the door. The female voice in the Metro, who speaks in English, is Rini Simon Khanna, an anchor, script writer and actor and the male voice is Shammi Narang, a voice-over artist and also an emcee. All the metro trains would have even number of coaches and also the new line that is the Aqua line provides free e-rickshaw service if you have to take another connecting Metro of blue line as these stations are not interconnected that is the Noida Sector 52 and Sector 51.

DMRC is also certified by the United Nations (UN) as the first Metro Rail and Rail based system in the world to get carbon Credits for reducing Green House gas emissions and it has also set up roof top solar power plants at many of its stations. All stations of the presently under construction corridors are being constructed as green buildings.

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