2. Delhi – the need for a mass rapid transit
system
• As cities grow in size, the number of vehicular trips on road
system goes up. This necessitates a pragmatic policy shift to
discourage private modes and encourage public transport.
• Delhi has experienced phenomenal growth in population in
the last few decades. Its population has increased from 57
lakhs (5.7M) in 1981 to > 120 lakhs (12 M) presently.
• For want of an efficient mass transport system, the number
of motor vehicles has increased from 5.4 lakhs (540k) in
1981 to 40 lakhs (4M) by now.
• The number of motor vehicles in Delhi is now more than that
of Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai put together. The result is
extreme congestion on Delhi roads, ever slowing speeds,
increase in road accidents fuel wastage and environmental
pollution with motorized vehicles alone contributing to
about two thirds of the atmospheric pollution.
3. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
• To rectify this situation the
Government of India and the
Government of National Capital
Territory of Delhi, set up a company
named Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
Ltd.
• DMRC was then given a mandate to
construct >50 kms of Metro Rail tracks
in Delhi by 2005.
4. • The Delhi Metro (Hindi: िदिल्ली मेटरो Dillī Me roṭ ), is a rapid transit system in the Indian
city of Delhi that is being built and is operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
Limited (DMRC).
• The first section of the Delhi Metro was opened on December 24, 2002. It is the
second underground rapid transit system in India, after Kolkata. The Delhi Metro
has a combination of elevated, at-grade and underground lines, and has carried
over a billion commuters in seven years since its inauguration.As of January 2010,
DMRC runs 86 trains daily on routes spanning 96 km.
• The Government of India and the Government of Delhi jointly set up the Delhi
Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in 1995. Physical construction work on the Delhi
Metro started in 1998. The DMRC was given full powers to hire people, decide on
tenders and control funds. The first line opened on December 24, 2002 and the
first phase of the project was completed in 2005. Phase 2 is underway and three
more phases have been planned.
5.
6. FUNDING
• The capital cost of Phases I and II has been
estimated to be Rs 14,430 crore at 2004
prices.However, more recent estimates have
placed the cost of construction at Rs. 200
crore per kilometre.
• Thirty percent of the total investment for
Phases I and II has been raised through
equity capital with the Government of India
and Government of Delhi contributing equal
shares,and approximately another 60 percent
has been raised as either long-term or
subordinate debt, through soft loans from the
Japan Bank for International Cooperation.
• The rest of the investment is proposed to be
recovered from internal revenues through
operations and property development.
• The Metro also received Rs. 1,914.3 crore
(US$ 421.15 million) as grant-in-aid from
various government agencies for the financial
year ending March 2009
7. REVENUE AND PROFITS
• In 2007, the Delhi Metro claimed to be one of only five metro systems in the world
that operated at a profit without government subsidies. This was enabled by
keeping maintenance costs to a minimum and harnessing additional revenue from
advertisements and property development, apart from ticket sales.
• For the financial year ended March 2008, the Metro reported operating revenues
of Rs. 305.27 crore (US$ 67.16 million) and a profit before tax of Rs. 19.98 crore
(US$ 4.4 million),which rose to Rs. 723.77 crore (US$ 159.23 million) and Rs. 90.43
crore (US$ 19.89 million) respectively for the financial year ended March 2009
8. • Trains operate at intervals of 3 to 4.5 minutes between 6:00 to 23:00. Trains
operating within the network typically travel at speeds below 80 km/h (50 mph),
and stop about 20 seconds at each station.
• Automated station announcements are recorded in Hindi and English. Many
stations have services such as ATMs, food outlets, cafés and convenience stores.
Eating, drinking, smoking, and chewing of gum are prohibited in the entire system.
Navigation information on is available on Google Transit.
9. SECURITY
• All metro stations and trains are monitored constantly by more than 1200
closed-circuit cameras, and specially trained CISF personnel are stationed at all
stations and trains to deal with law and order issues in the system.
• Trains are at platform level with a small platform gap to allow easy movement of
passengers.
• The Delhi Metro is also one of the few metros in the world to have plainclothed
metro-marshals on trains.
• Intercoms are provided in each train car for emergency communication between
the passengers and the driver.
10. TICKETING
• Delhi Metro commuters have
three choices for ticket
purchase.
• RFID tokens are valid only for a
single journey on the day of
purchase and the value depends
on the distance travelled, with
fares for a single journey ranging
from Rs. 8 to Rs. 30. Fares are
calculated based on the origin
and destination stations using a
fare chart. A common ticketing
facility for commuters travelling
on Delhi Transport Corporation
(DTC) buses and the Metro will
be introduced in 2011.
11. • Travel cards, which are most convenient
for frequent commuters, are valid for one
year from the date of purchase or the
date of last recharge, and are available in
denominations of Rs. 50 to Rs. 800 . A
10% discount is given on all travel made
on it. A deposit of Rs. 50 needs to be
made to buy a new card.
• Tourist cards can be used for unlimited
travel on the Delhi Metro network over
short periods of time. There are two
kinds of tourist cards — with validities of
one and three days respectively. The cost
of a 1-day card is Rs. 70 and that of a 3-
day card is Rs. 200, besides a refundable
deposit of Rs. 50 that must be paid at the
time of purchasing the card.
TICKETING
12. FUNCTIONING
The Delhi Metro uses cab signaling
along with a centralized
automatic train control system
comprising of
automatic train operation,
Automatic Train Protection and
automatic train signaling modules.
A 380 MHz digital trunked TETRA radio communication system from Motorola is
used on all 3 lines to carry both voice and data information.
For Line 3, Siemens Transportation Systems has supplied the electronic
interlocking Sicas, the operation control system Vicos OC 500 and the automation
control system LZB 700 M. An integrated system comprising optical fibre cable, on-
train radio, CCTV, and a centralised clock and public address system is used for
telecommunication during train operations as well as emergencies.
13. ENVIRONMENT AND AESTHETICS
• The Delhi Metro has won awards for environmentally friendly practices from
organizations including the United Nations,RINA
, and the
International Organization for Standardization, becoming the first metro in the
world to be ISO 14001 certified for environmentally friendly construction.
• Most of the Metro stations on the Blue Line conduct rainwater harvesting as an
environmental protection measure.
• It is also the first railway project in the world to earn carbon credits after being
registered with the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism, and
has so far earned 400,000 carbon credits by saving energy through the use of
regenerative braking systems on its trains.
• The Metro has been promoted as an integral part of community infrastructure,
and community artwork depicting the local way of life has been put on display at
stations.Students of local art colleges have also designed decorative murals at
Metro stations,while pillars of the viaduct on some elevated sections have been
decorated with mosaic murals created by local schoolchildren.