Transporting Delhi to a new era

It is a metamorphosis. What Delhi could not achieve in 55 years of Independence, the 19th Commonwealth Games gave it in less than a decade.

It is a metamorphosis.

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What Delhi could not achieve in 55 years of Independence, the 19th Commonwealth Games gave it in less than a decade.

With its state-of-the-art Metro train lines, swanky air-conditioned low-floor buses and dial-a-cab radio taxi service, the national capital has a mix of one of the most comfortable, economical and fast public transport systems in the country.

By the Commonwealth Games this October, Delhi will have 190 kilometres of the Metro network, spread in almost all directions, and 3,775 low-floor buses.

This is first time that Delhi’s bus fleet will swell to more than 7,500 with

some standard floor old DTC buses and blueline buses still plying on the Capital’s roads. The number is likely to touch 11,000 in the next couple of years.

The capital has seen an investment of Rs 18,000 crore from the Centre in various infrastructure projects for the Commonwealth Games.

Experts said the assets being created in Delhi will become a legacy and will be remembered by generations to come.

This money from the Centre not only helped Delhi build several new roads and flyovers, but also helped the city strengthen its public transport system.

While a new set of red and green wheels has replaced the rickety fleet of Delhi Transport Corporation and blueline buses and helped strengthen the backbone of a public transport system, the Metro has reduced distances and made travelling within the city and to the booming satellite towns of Gurgaon and Noida faster and more comfortable.

With the opening of Central Secretariat - Qutub Minar Link, the Metro ride from Gurgaon to the heart of the city has reduced to just about an hour, which otherwise takes no less than two hours and several change of buses.

Thanks to the Metro, Noida, another booming satellite town, is almost as easily accessible from the Capital.

“Metro has given a safe, secure and fast mode of travel to people living in Delhi and the NCR. It saves 50-75 per cent travelling time in comparison to travelling by road,” Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director Elattuvalapil Sreedharan said.

If the 1982 Asian Games turned a ‘village’ into a town, the Commonwealth Games has catapulted Delhi into the league of world-class cities.

Not just public transport system, Delhi has got a string of new flyovers and roads, which has made significant contribution in improving driving conditions in the city.

Projects such as the Barapullah elevated road, which connects the Games Village in east Delhi to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue for opening and closing ceremonies and various other events, will later help decongesting the city's two most jam-prone traffic intersections.

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor has made a beginning towards streamlining the capital’s heterogeneous traffic, while new foot over bridges at various important junctions across the city have tremendously helped pedestrians.

“Delhi would not have seen this kind of development, which it is seeing due to the Commonwealth Games,” said P.K. Sarkar, professor of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture.

“Organising such events gives a thrust to development activities and that’s why Delhi wanted to hold this event.”