Lifeline of the national capital-”Delhi Metro”, continued its journey of accomplishments in the year 2021 and also launched new initiatives for improving passenger services despite the challenges posed by Covid-19 induced conditions.
In the year 2021, the Delhi Metro inaugurated a new section on Grey Line, completed the missing link at Trilokpuri and launched Driverless Train Operations on Pink Line.
On August 6, the connecting link between Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 and Trilokpuri – Sanjay Lake Metro stations of Pink Line was formally inaugurated by Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal via video conferencing. The passenger services began later at 3 PM on the same day.
On September 18, the Dhansa Bus Stand – Najafgarh section on the Grey Line of Delhi Metro was formally inaugurated for passenger services by the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and the Delhi Chief Minister via video conferencing. The passenger services on this section commenced at 5 PM on the same day.
On November 25, the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot inaugurated the Driverless Train Operations (DTO) on the 59 kilometre long Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) of Delhi Metro via videoconferencing in the presence of Secretary, MOHUA, Mr Durga Shanker Mishra, Managing Director, DMRC, Dr Mangu Singh and other senior officials of Delhi Metro. With this, the Delhi Metro’s fully automated network grows to about 97 kilometres, which is fourth largest in the world and the only DTO network in India. The DTO facility was launched on the Magenta Line in 2020 with which the Delhi Metro had entered the elite league of world’s 7 per cent Metros in the world which operate fully automated metro networks.
Among the other main highlights for the year 2021, on January 15, in its pursuit to further upgrade its world class training facility at the Delhi Metro Rail Academy (DMRA), Shastri Park, a new four-storey simulator building was inaugurated in the DMRA premises by Dr Singh in the presence of Directors and other senior officials. Dr Singh also inaugurated a new Foot Over Bridge (FOB) in front of Shastri Park Metro depot. This FOB allows pedestrians to cross safely the busy East Approach Road (the road leading from ISBT, Kashmere gate towards Shahdara across Yamuna) from both the sides.
On January 21, the first tunnel boring machine (TBM) of this phase started its drive to bore a 1.4-kilometre-long tunnel from Vikaspuri to Krishna Park Extension on the Janakpuri West – R K Ashram Marg corridor in the presence of Dr Singh and other senior officials. Two parallel circular tunnels for up and down movement are being constructed on this stretch which is a part of the 2.2-kilometre-long underground section from Janakpuri West to Keshopur.
On January 29, a 76-metre-long pedestrian subway connecting the Netaji Subhash Place Metro station and the Netaji Subhash Place Shopping Complex in Pitampura was made operational. The shopping complex at Netaji Subhash Place (Pitampura) is located right opposite the Metro station, which is a vital interchange facility for the Red and Pink lines.
On February 9, Delhi Metro commissioned 10 additional escalators at nine Metro stations including two new ones at Kashmere Gate Metro station, thereby, taking the total tally of escalators at this station alone to a record 47 escalators for convenient passenger movement. These newer, easy to maintain escalators, updated with latest software provide more ease to commuters especially during peak hours. The other stations where one additional escalator each has been commissioned for passenger service are: – Rithala on Red Line and Uttam Nagar (East), Nawada, Rajouri Graden, Shadipur, Yamuna Bank, Subhash Nagar and R K Ashram Marg on Blue Line.
On February 25, Dr Singh flagged off a fleet of 25 e-rickshaws, called ‘ETO’ from Jamia Millia Islamia Metro station of Magenta Line. These E-rickshaws ply from 6 AM to 11 PM daily providing last-mile connectivity to nearby localities like, Batla House, Gaffar Manzil, Okhla Vihar, Zakir Nagar, Hazi Colony and Noor Nagar etc. A Charging Station for these electric vehicles has also been set up to ensure seamless service throughout the day.
On March 31, Delhi Metro in association with Amazon Pay introduced the facility of recharging the Delhi Metro Smart Cards through Amazon Pay. The facility was jointly introduced by Dr Singh and Mr Mahendra Nerurkar, CEO, Amazon Pay through video conferencing in the presence of other senior officials.To avail this facility, customers can open the Amazon shopping
app and click on the ‘Metro Recharge’ option under Amazon Pay tab.
On July 6, for the first time in the country, a FASTag/UPI based cashless parking facility was launched at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station by Dr Singh in the presence of senior officials of DMRC and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). As part of the Multi-Model Integration (MMI) initiative, dedicated Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) lanes for Auto, Taxi and E-Rickshaws were also inaugurated at the station.
On August 12, Delhi Metro introduced Feeder Electric Buses on trial basis under which 25 low floor e-buses (24-seater) are plying from two routes from Shastri Park Metro Station. Only Metro passengers having a Delhi Metro Smart Card or Metro DTC Smart Card are allowed to avail the services on these e-buses. They can use their Smart Card to pay for the cashless travel since these buses are fully contactless and conductor less enabling entry and exit through turnstiles from the Bus by using the Metro Smart Card.
On September 26, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had earned a commendable Rs 19.5 crore from the sale of 3.55 million carbon credits which it had collected over a period of six years from 2012 to 2018. DMRC has been a pioneer in India in quantifying climate change benefits from its operations. It has a number of dedicated projects to its credit-oriented towards energy efficiency.
On October 17, Delhi Metro introduced the facility of free high-speed Wifi service from all Metro stations of its Yellow Line (i.e, Line-2 from HUDA City Centre to Samaypur Badli). This service is launched on this Line which consists of 37 Metro stations and runs mostly underground through one of the most congested parts of Delhi covering outer Delhi, north Delhi through central Delhi and south Delhi and finally Gurugram.
On October 29, Dr Singh flagged off a fleet of 25 e-rickshaws, called ‘ETO’ from Noida Electronic City Metro station of Blue Line. These E-rickshaws will be plying from 6 AM to 11 PM daily providing last-mile connectivity to nearby localities of Noida Electronic City Metro station.
On November 29, Dr Singh at the Yamuna Bank depot unveiled the first mid-life refurbished metro train which was introduced into service in 2007. This endeavor is part of a special drive undertaken by DMRC to refurbish all the 70 Metro trains which were procured by DMRC in its Phase-I between 2002 and 2007 and have already completed 14 to 19 years of their overall 30-year life span.
As part of this mid-life refurbishment, the trains are being retrofitted/modified with many new features in order to bring them at par with the rest of the trains which were subsequently introduced into service in DMRC’s Phase-II and III expansions.