High-capacity lifts, escalators to be installed in phase 3 stations

High-capacity lifts and heavy-duty escalators to make life comfortable for Metro commuters will be installed at all stations built during phase 3.

High-capacity lifts and heavy-duty escalators to make life comfortable for Metro commuters will be installed at all stations built during phase 3.

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These will be monitored and repaired by a unique automatic monitoring and rectification system. Currently, lifts and escalators are manually monitored and maintained.

Keeping in mind the fact that many disabled people, elderly as well as people with heavy luggage use the Metro daily and the fact that ridership is surely going to increase with the completion of phase 3, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to install bigger lifts and heavy-duty escalators in the new stations.

Presently, a lift at a Metro station can accommodate 13 people with the exception of those at AIIMS that can accommodate 26 people. In Phase 3, all the lifts will be able to accommodate 20 people each, while the lifts at interchange stations will have a capacity of 26 people.

“We have plans to add a total of 600 lifts and nearly the same number of escalators in phase 3 at 82 stations on the 120-km-long network,” said a spokesperson of the DMRC.

Earlier, DMRC had plans to add a total of 800 lifts and escalators in phase 3. But keeping commuters’ convenience in mind, it decided to increase the number. Presently, 20 lakh people on an average commute by Metro daily, which after completion of phase 3 will rise by another 20 lakh, indicates DMRC’s detailed project report.

Presently, it operates 400 lifts and 490 escalators across its 140 Metro stations, eight depots and other installations in the network spread across 168km in Delhi and NCR towns.

After the completion of phase 3 by 2016, total number of lifts in the system will rise to 1,200 and escalators will be about 1090, officials said.