Amid flood mayhem, Delhi Metro clocks over 60 lakh daily passenger journeys

Delhi is reeling under flood-like situation due to overflowing of Yamuna river since this week.

The record water level in the Yamuna river in Delhi which created a flood-like situation in the national capital this week, has thrown normal life out of gear. Low-lying areas have been submerged, roads have been blocked, and traffic congestion has worsened due to the overflowing Yamuna. However, capital's ‘lifeline’, the Delhi Metro continued to function with little disruption and even recorded heavy demand during flood woes.

A Delhi Metro train passes by as the swollen Yamuna river floods low-lying areas, in New Delhi, Wednesday. (PTI)

The public transport body released a notification Friday, informing that over 60 lakh passenger journeys were recorded by it on multiple days in the last two weeks. “In the past two weeks, during weekdays in July, Delhi Metro has registered over 60 lakh passenger journeys on multiple days, especially the last three days (11, 12, 13 July) of this week,” the press release said. (Delhi flood updates LIVE)

'60 lakh+ trend recorded usually only on Mondays'

DMRC said that during normal days, this pattern of journeys follows a descending order as the week progresses from Monday to Friday. “…crossing the 60 lakh mark is generally witnessed during Mondays only….but the observed pattern establishes DMRC’s reliability…” it boasted.

As per the list released by the DMRC, the passenger journey figure went up to 62 lakh this week till Thursday, except on Monday when all the schools were closed. On Tuesday, 62,00,681 passenger journeys were recorded.

Due to Yamuna's flooding impact, the metro services were briefly interrupted in areas including Kashmere Gate, Yamuna Bank, Mayur Vihar but it still managed a punctuality rate of 99.87% in this month so far, the statement further said.

'Situation gradually improving'

Massive traffic jams were reported across Delhi-NCR due to the flooding situation as some roads remained closed over safety reasons. However, with the water level showing a receding trend, the situation slightly improved Saturday with some roads resuming operations. “PWD has started pumping out the water, cleaning the roads and opening them out for traffic. ISBT and Bhairon Marg are open for traffic now,” Delhi minister Atishi tweeted this morning.