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| Delhi Metro Rail |
Delhi Metro
Stifling commuter congestion in the major Indian city
of Delhi, population 12 million, has become an economic
liability. It has more motor vehicles than Mumbai, Calcutta,
Chennai put together.After more than 40 years of studies
into a rail-based mass transit system, the Delhi Metro
Rail Corporation (DMRC) began construction on 1 October
1998. Just over four years later, on 25 December 2002,
the first section of Line 1 from Shahdara to Tis-Hazari
was opened for public services and almost 60km was in
use by the end of 2005.
The Delhi Metro has been designed to be integrated with
other public transport in the city and DMRC has signed
an agreement with bus operator Delhi Transport Corporation
(DTC) to integrate management and through-ticketing.
It is anticipated that the Delhi Metro will eventually
extend to almost 300km. By 2006 it had reached a fifth
of that total, with three lines and 50 stations.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The pioneering Line 1 (built to broad gauge, 1,676mm)
begins at Sharada in the east of Delhi and was extended
to 22km (18 stations) on 31 March 2004 with the inauguration
of the Inder Lok-Rithala section. The entire new section
is elevated and runs on a viaduct mostly over roads. The
final destination will eventually be Barwala.
Line 2, which runs between Vishwa Vidyalaya (Delhi University,
North Campus) and Central Secretariat, is underground
for its entire 11km length. The ten-station route passes
through the city centre and the central business district
at Connaught Place. Stations along the route, 12.85m below
ground, were built by cut-and-cover methods except at
Chawri Bazar (20m down) where tunnelling was employed.
Line 3, 33.5km long, is mostly elevated or at grade with
a short underground section in central New Delhi, and
intersects with Line 2 at Connaught Place. It does not
connect with Line 1, and runs westwards from Barakhamba
Road in the city centre to the township of Dwarka in West
Delhi. The next extension is a further 6.5km called the
Dwarka Subcity Extension, partly elevated and partly at
grade.
There are escalators and accessible elevators at all stations,
with tactile tiles to guide the visually impaired from
outside the stations to the trains.
One of the most challenging construction projects has
been Mandi House on Line 3, which has been managed by
British company Mott Macdonald. The station is located
under Sikandra Road, an important and busy thoroughfare.
Much of the station therefore had to be built top-down,
with the diaphragm wall panels built from ground level
to form the permanent walls of the station.
ROLLING STOCK
The Metro rolling stock was manufactured by a consortium
comprising ROTEM (formerly KOROS), Mitsubishi Corporation
and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. The initial train
sets were built at a ROTEM facility in Korea, with later
examples completed at an Indian facility by Bharat Earth
Movers Limited. The trains consist of 3.2m-wide, stainless
steel, lightweight coaches with gangways, running in four-coach
formations, although eight is possible. Each train has
seating for 240 passengers with space for another 1,240
standing.
Their maximum speed is 80km/h, with a 20-second dwell
time at stations. Line 1 service intervals are eight to
ten minutes, although the design capacity is just two
minutes.
SIGNALLING AND COMMUNICATIONS
The power supply is at 25kV AC through overhead catenary
under rigid equipment on underground sections, flexible
elsewhere. There is Centralised Automatic Train Control
(CATC) comprising Automatic Train Operation (ATO), Automatic
Train Protection (ATP) and Automatic Train Signalling
(ATS) systems.
Emergency communication between the passengers and the
driver is provided in each coach, and on-train announcements
are in Hindi and English. There are route maps and LCD
display systems in every coach. Security is supported
by CCTV cameras at stations.
Fare collection is through contactless, stored-value smartcards.
Prices are comparable with those of city buses to encourage
Metro usage.
THE FUTURE
The master plan envisages 241km of high-capacity rail
transit by 2021, with more to follow.
A proposal for integrating the rail transport with bus
transport is on its way with about 200 shuttle buses moving
people to and from railway stations. This will also allow
the seamless journey of passengers without any need for
separate tickets for bus and train services.
The Delhi Metro has put on-hold the last 6.1km section
of Line 1 from Rithala to Barwala due to delays in urban
development in the catchment areas of this line. Instead,
there are proposals to extend northwards to Azadpur on
viaduct (4km) or to extend Line 3 eastwards to I.P. Estate.
The original Phase 1 plan included Metro links from Pulbangash
to Holambi Kalan, and Trinagar to Nangloi. These routes
have now been replaced by the 23.5km-long Line 3 between
Barakhamba Road in the city centre to the township of
Dwarka in West Delhi.
Planning for Phase 2 of the project is underway. The 2010
programme is an extension of Line 2 southwards to reach
Vasant Kunj, and north from Vishwa Vidyalaya to Sanjay
Gandhi Transport Nagar Other proposals include an extension
of Line 3 eastwards from Barakhamba Road to the township
of NOIDA outside South East Delhi.
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