More coaches on track next year may give relief to commuters

With fleet of 70 trains (280 coaches) already running packed for most hours of the day, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has orders more coaches.

For 52-year-old Savita Bhandari, life changed when the Delhi metro opened its Dwarka-IP Estate line. A resident of Raghubir Nagar, Bhandari started taking the metro to her Patel Chowk office to avoid the Blueline crowd. Now, the crowd has come back to haunt her in the metro coaches.

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She is not the only one to feel this way. Most people, who take the metro every day, have started complaining about overcrowded trains. With a growing network, the metro’s ridership has also increased and now, crossed the eight-lakh mark.

“At times it is very difficult to board the metro during office hours. Sometimes one has to let one train go because it is already so crowded. Once aboard, there is hardly any space to move and most of the time one has to stand,” said Prerna
Gulati, a young executive with a multinational.

With fleet of 70 trains (280 coaches) already running packed for most hours of the day, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has orders more coaches.

“We have already placed an order for 616 coaches, which we expect to get early next year. After trial runs, we hope to press those coaches into service by the middle of next year,” DMRC chief public relation officer Anuj Dayal said.

Since the seating capacity of a metro train is just 186 passengers, most passengers have to stand. There is no non-peak hour between 8.30 am and 8.30 pm on the 11-km-long underground section between Central Secretariat and Delhi
Vishwavidyalaya.

“We have also expanded our maintenance gang to ensure that trains don’t remain in shed for long,” Dayal said.