Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System
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| Locale | New Delhi, India |
|---|---|
| Transit type | Rapid transit |
| Began operation | 2002 |
| System length | 65 km |
| No. of lines | 3 |
| No. of stations | 59 |
| Track gauge | broad gauge |
| Operator | Delhi Metro Rail Corporation |
The Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS), or Delhi Metro (Hindi: दिल्ली मेट्रो), is a rapid transit system in the Indian city of New Delhi operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
The Delhi Metro was opened on December 24, 2002. It became the second rapid transit system in India, after the one in operation in Kolkata. Unlike the Calcutta Metro, however, the Delhi Metro has a combination of elevated, at-grade and underground lines. Trains operating within the network typically travel at speeds below 80 km/h, or 50 mph, and stop for an average of 20 seconds at each MRTS station. The MRTS rolling stock are manufactured by ROTEM, relying on 1676 mm (5 ft 6 in) track gauge. Since its opening in 2002, two more lines have been added to the system, bringing the total network length to 56 km, with 50 underground and elevated stations on three separate lines. trains run from 6:00am till 10:00pm, daily.
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[edit] History
The history of planning a Metro Project for Delhi dates back to the 1970's. In 1969-70. the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) undertook the first exhaustive study on traffic and travel characteristics of Delhi. While producing extensive data describing traffic and travel characteristics, it developed mathematical models to project future travel demand. After examining several alternatives, it recommended the setting up of a Mass Rapid Transit Network for Delhi. The Metropolitan Transport Team (MTT), Indian Railways, reviewed the schemes and sought modifications to CRRI's recommendations, planning a well knit Mass Rapid Transit System for the capital city of India. The system comprised of 36 km of underground corridors aligned two axes North-South and East-West Corridors and 96 km of surface rail corridors. The Metropolitan Transport Project (MTP-R, set up by the Ministry of Railways, Government of India) prepared an engineering plan to construct the MTR system.
The CRRI proposal was based on transport demand projection up to the year 1981. The work of further projection of demand to the year 2001 was assigned to the Town & Country Planning Organisation . It's concept plan envisaged a network of 58 km underground and 195 km surface corridors. As a part of the techno-economic feasibility study, subsoil exploration were conducted on four specific trunk routes and by the side of existing railway tracks and recommended for taking up pilot projects.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) prepared a perspective plan for Delhi (MPD-2001) in 1984 and recommended a multi modal transport system comprising of 200 km of Light Rail Transit System, 10 km of tramway, an extension to the surface rail system, and an extensive road network. The Urban Arts Commission suggested modifications to the proposal of the DDA and recommended the development of the existing Ring Railway with three radial underground MRT corridors.
Due to rapid growth especially on the western and eastern parts of the city, the Ministry of Railways, Govt. of India appointed a study group to recommend a precise alignment for the East-West corridor and in 1987 further appointed a Task Force to assess the exact choice of construction technology. While suggesting changes to the alignment of study group, it recommended the setting up of a pilot project based on M-Bahn Magnetic Levitation System and in the alternative, replacement by a Light Rail Transit System.
A Feasibility Report on the Integrated Multi Modal Mass Rapid Transport System of Delhi (IMMRTS) prepared by RITES recommended a three-component system comprising of Rail corridors, Metro corridors and dedicated bus way totalling to 184.5 km and further addition of 14 km increased to 198.5 km. The total network contains 16 sections to be implemented in a sequence based on passenger kilometer carried per kilometer length of each section.
Phase I of the network, completed on November 11, 2006, comprises of 65.11 km of route length with 13.01 km underground called Metro corridor and 52.10 km surface / elevated called Rail Corridor.
Phase II is presently under construction, with a target completion date of 2010.
[edit] Lines
As of November, 2006:
- ● Red Line (Line 1), Shahdara - Rithala
- ● Yellow Line (Line 2), Vishwa Vidyalaya - Central Secretariat
- ● Blue Line (Line 3), Indraprastha - Dwarka Sub City
[edit] Phase II extensions
The following extensions for Phase II are confirmed[1] and under planning or construction.
- Red Line, east: Shahdara-Dilshad Garden, target end 2008
- Yellow Line, north: Vishwa Vidyalaya-Model Town-Jahangirpuri, target end 2010
- Yellow Line, southwest: Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar-Gurgaon, target end 2010
- Yellow Line, southeast: Central Secretariat-Nehru Place-Badarpur, target end 2010
- Blue Line, west: Dwarka Sector 9-Sector 22, 2.5 km, target ?
- Blue Line, east: Indraprastha-Mayur Vihar-NOIDA, 15.3 km, target end 2009
- Blue Line, east: Indraprastha-Anand Vihar-Vaishali[GZB], 13.0 km, target end 2009
[edit] Other extensions
An express rail service from Connaught Place to Indira Gandhi International Airport is also in the planning phase.
[edit] Facilities
Each train consists of four coaches and can carry up to 240 seated and 300 standing passengers. The trains operate at intervals of three to five minutes between 6am to 10pm. Coaches on all trains are air-conditioned and a temperature of 29 °C is maintained in them.
All metro stations and trains have their own specially trained Metro police to provide security. All stations and trains are also monitored by closed-circuit cameras.
Most of the stations have ATMs, food outlets, coffee shops etc.
[edit] Ticketing
Delhi Metro customers have the following choices for the ticket purchase.
- Smart card: These cards are most convenient for the frequent commuters. Valid for one year, these travel cards are available in the denominations of Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 200 and Rs. 500. 10% bonus is given on each recharge or new card. A deposit of extra Rs.100 needs to be made before buying a new card.
- Tourist card: These cards can be used for unlimited travel over short periods of time. There are two kinds of tourist cards - 1 day and the 3 day. Cost of 1-day card is Rs. 70 and 3-day card is Rs. 200.
- Token: These tokens are valid only for a single journey on the day of purchase and the value depends on the destination. Fares are decided based on the destination station using the token table.
Blue and Red Tokens are for a single journey only, whereas Green Tokens are for those who need to change trains
[edit] Rolling stock
The Metro rolling stock was initially manufactured by a consortium of companies comprising ROTEM, Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO). The train sets are now being built by Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML). The trains run on the broad gauge (1676 mm) and consist of 3.2 metre wide stainless steel lightweight coaches with vestibules permitting movement throughout the length of the train. Trains currently consist of 4 coaches - two driving coaches and two Motor coaches. The system is extendable up to 8 coaches. Extension is expected in March 2006 after the completion of the Blue Line.
The power supply is at 25 kV AC through overhead catenary. The underground sections have Centralized Automatic Train Control (CATC) comprising Automatic Train Operation (ATO), Automatic Train Protection (ATP) and Automatic Train Signaling (ATS) systems.
[edit] Aesthetics
Each station has been designed with a unique scheme. Local art college students have designed decorative murals at the Metro stations.
[edit] Safety
A new law enforcement body, the Delhi Metro Police, has been set up especially to deal with law and order issues on the metro. Trains are at platform level with a small gap to allow easy entry and exit to passengers. Stations are monitored with closed-circuit TV. Overall security is monitored from a central control location. It is also one of the few metros in the world to have plainclothed metro-marshals on trains. Emergency communication between the passengers and the driver is provided in each coach.
[edit] Environment protection, and occupational health & safety
Most of the Metro stations on the Blue Line conduct Rainwater harvesting as an environmental protection measure [1]. The Delhi Metro has established large optimally-designed catchment areas at many stations. The water from these catchment areas diverts the rain water from the roof tops catchments by drain pipes to settlement/filtration tanks which clean and then store the water in borewells (located underground, below the stations). The storage capacity of each borewell is in the range of 28000 litres annually.
[edit] Certifications
- ISO 14001 - Environmental Management System. DMRC claims to be the first Metro in the World to receive this certification at the construction stage.
- OHSAS 18001 - Occupational Health and Safety Assessment sequence 18001
[edit] See also
- List of rapid transit systems
- Indraprastha - Dwarka Sub City Line
- Vishwa Vidyalaya - Central Secretariat Line
- Shahdara - Rithala Line
[edit] External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRC)
- The Delhi Metro Rail discussion group, for discussing the progress of the project. The group also discusses public transportation issues in other Indian cities.
- Pictures, Delhi Metro on First Day, 25th Dec 2002, By Roopesh Kohad
- Pictures, December 2003, By Ashish Vashisht
- Article: Delhi a Metro Dream
- Delhi Metro on UrbanRail.net
- Indian Express - Colour coding on Delhi Metro
- Let horse sense prevail - Article in Indian Express by Bibek Debroy telling us why we should choose Standard Gauge over Broad for the Delhi Metro. Dated Wednesday, January 23, 2002]
- Trenchless Digging - Article in the Tribune (Chandigarh) by D. S. Dhillon. Dated Thursday, January 29, 2004
- More Pictures
[edit] References
- ^ Map of extensions, DMRC
