Fewer crowds, less congestion

For regular Metro commuters from the Anand Vihar metro station, Thursday was a day of surprises. Missing from the ever-congested station were milling crowds. Even the parking lot had only 50% occupancy.

For regular Metro commuters from the Anand Vihar metro station, Thursday was a day of surprises. Missing from the ever-congested station were milling crowds. Even the parking lot had only 50% occupancy.

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On Thursday, the much-awaited Anand Vihar-Vaishali metro service kicked off. And for a change, commuters could board trains comfortably. "It was the first time that I could get into the train without any major trouble," said PK Arora, a resident of Surya Nagar. Sunita Rana, of Ram Prastha, said she could comfortably park her car before boarding a Metro to her office at Dwarka.

Before July 14, Anand Vihar was the last stop for thousands of commuters heading to Ghaziabad. Till Wednesday, it was one of the busiest metro stations, with an average daily footfall of 35,000-40,000 commuters. On Thursday, the footfall was reduced to about half — only about 17,000 commuters.

"Commuters from Ghaziabad, Indirapuram, Kaushambi and Vaishali — who depended on Anand Vihar station till Wednesday — have started boarding and deboarding from Kaushambi and Vaishali stations, from Thursday. This resulted in decongesting Anand Vihar to a great extent," said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC.