To save energy and provide a much better lighting experience, Delhi Metro has undertaken a major drive to replace the conventional existing lights (incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lamps, CFL lamps, etc) with LED lights at 155 locations covering Metro stations, depots and parking areas which were constructed for the public under the DMRC’s Phase-I (2005) and Phase-II (2010) schemes.

According to a DMRC official, it has already completed 75 per cent of the drive in recent months by installing around one Lakh LED lights at these locations by replacing the conventional lights. The remaining 25 per cent of the drive will be completed by the end of October 2021 wherein around 35,000 LED lights will be installed in the remaining portion of these locations..

The official said the operational life of the conventional lights, installed in Phase-I/II, was around 10 years. The DMRC decided to replace these lights which are well past their effective age now with these new-age LED lights which are both cost-effective and energy-efficient.

The LED- based lighting system will help the DMRC save around half of the energy expenditure vis-a-vis the existing lighting system. As a result, the whole cost of installing these lights will be recovered by the DMRC in around two years.

The lifespan of an LED bulb is longer compared to the conventional existing lights with a much reduced maintenance cost. The average LED lasts 50,000 operating hours or more. It is more than 40 times of the lifespan of an incandescent bulb.  In addition, LED lights have energy-efficiency component which makes them consume very low amount of power, the official pointed out.

Undertaking this drive in already operational stations was a challenging task for DMRC maintenance teams. As there is regular movement of people, the work had to be executed in night time due to safety reasons which in turn increased the installation time.

Even during night, the work could be carried out for around two hours only in a day since the time window available from the close of last passenger service and commencement of first passenger service is very limited and other important operational preparedness and routine maintenance activities are undertaken in this period only, the official added.

He said the DMRC had to arrange special scaffoldings and cranes to cover the spaces at twice or thrice the normal height of a building which is again very tricky and a time-consuming exercise.

The DMRC has already implemented LED-based lighting solutions at its Phase-III stations and a similar system will be adopted for the upcoming Phase-IV stations also, he said.