It's been 20 years of the Delhi Metro, 20 years of a public transport system that has been the great class leveler and has transformed the way Dellhiites work, play and manage their hectic lives in a “city” that spans three states.
As 2022 draws to a close, it is also time to trace the past, present and future of a lifeline connecting far corners of the sprawling National Capital Region (NCR) that comprises Delhi, of course. , and also its prosperous suburbs Gurgaon and Noida, as well as industrial cities Ghaziabad and Faridabad.
It started in December 2002 with a corridor of just 8.2km spanning six stations on the Red Line and has now grown to over 390km. The section of the network comprises 286 stations (including Noida Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Gurgaon's Rapid Metro).
The multicolored network? now with lines in yellow, blue, green, gray and in multiple shades of pink, including magenta and purple? it transformed the city's landscape and boosted its transportation infrastructure. In 2023, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's focus will be on its Phase IV project, with sections of two of the three priority corridors expected to open in the second half of the year.
Looking ahead, many Delhiites look back on the years of public transport as a safety feature in a city notorious for being unsafe for women and bridging divisions with even the wealthiest hopping on a train to navigate traffic and distances
It has opened pathways to work, allowing women whose families were reluctant to let them ride the bus to join the workforce and giving others the option of traveling late at night. Air-conditioned subways have also opened up distant corners of the city to commuters.
Simran Sharma, in her 20s, for example, who commutes for work between Krishna Nagar in east Delhi and Noida, said the Delhi Metro has made traveling safer for women and has been a boon for those who didn't venture out. long before.
“Every train has a car reserved for women, and there are some seats marked for women, as well as for older people in other cars, which is very good. Many more women are traveling on the metro,” she told PTI.
The DMRC is currently carrying out construction work on 65.2 km of the three priority corridors, covering 45 stations: Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg (28.92 km), Majlis Park-Maujpur (12.55 km) , which are extensions of the already operating Magenta Line and Pink Line respectively, and Tughalakabad-Aerocity (23.62 km) which is being built as the Silver Line and will connect the operating Violet Line and Airport Line.
Work on Phase IV had started in December 2019 with a groundbreaking ceremony, but was disrupted after the Covid outbreak in March 2020.
After struggling with the impact of the pandemic and the lockdown it brought about, resulting in lost revenue, the urban carrier is now looking to make up for lost ground while forging a future of transportation that is more seamless, comfortable, and technological with a focus on indigenization.
Delhi Metro “does not anticipate any major delays” or significant cost overruns on the Phase IV project timelines. Some of the sections of two of the three priority corridors are planned to open by March 2023, then DMRC head Mangu Singh told PTI in an interview on March 31, 2022.
It also said that the final commissioning of the entire Phase IV project could be extended until March 2025.
The Delhi Metro started commercial operations on December 25, 2002, one day after then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated its first section.
To mark the completion of two decades of its operations, the DMRC launched a special train on December 24 on the same route.
On November 19 this year, Delhi Metro achieved a major Phase IV construction milestone with the completion of tunnel work between Krishna Park Extension and Keshopur on the Janakpuri West-R K Ashram Marg corridor.
If 2022 was eventful for the Delhi Metro for its 20th anniversary, it also brought moments of anxiety for many commuters as services were disrupted for long hours over many days on various sections of various corridors.
On March 17, for example, services were delayed for almost two hours on three corridors (purple, green and pink lines) of the Delhi Metro due to a technical fault. Many travelers took out their frustration on Twitter and shared photos of passengers standing in long lines waiting for trains at many stations.
On June 9, its Blue Line services were delayed by more than two hours due to a technical problem. Two days later, services on the Violet Line were delayed by almost two hours. With many lakhs traveling each day, chaos was immediate.
In November, the Delhi Metro signed an MoU with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for the development of an indigenous communications-based train control (i-CBTC) system, in line with the ‘Make in India' initiative of the Indian government.
The DMRC has faced and overcome numerous engineering challenges in its 20-year journey. In September, a film titled ?Surmounting Challenges? Related to the third phase of its expansion, and produced by the DMRC, it won Best Promotional Film (in the Non-Feature Film category) at the 68th National Film Awards 2020.
The year also saw the leadership transition at the DMRC, with Vikas Kumar taking over as the third CEO on 1 April, when Mangu Singh handed over to him.
Delhi Metro in 2022 has also made aggressive offers for consulting services for Indian and foreign metro projects, including those in Israel, Egypt, Mauritius, Bahrain and Bangladesh, officials said.
[Disclaimer: This story was automatically generated by a computer program and was not created or edited by Journalpur Staff. Publisher: Journalpur.com]
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