At HUDA city center,the DMRC has set up entry and exit on different floors to decongest the station.By the end of this year, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will start expanding its network and officials are expecting the ridership to reach 50 lakh. The DMRC has identified about a dozen stations. Thus, there will be increasing a number of passengers in the subway station. That is the reason why need to be redesigned to accommodate the crowds.
Some of the subway stations indentified are Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi, Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar and Vaishali.And others have not confirmed yet.
“It is believed that there will be lesser strain on the existing stations after the opening of phase III. This thinking to some extent is true. But with increased connectivity, more and more people will take the Metro, which is convinence and fast for passengers. So we need to change the location of entry and exit points at some stations to accommodate the growing crowds.
“In addition, at many stations, we are installing extra automated fare collection (AFC) gates,x-ray baggage scanners, door frame metal detectors (DFMDs) and handheld metal detectors(HHMDs) to faster clearance,” said a DMRC official.
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At Raji Chowk, the DMRC will build a direct exit on the first floor. This will decongest the upper floor, where passengers interchange for Dwarka-Vaishali/Noida.
“Any person travelling on the Gurgaon-Samaipur Badli Line can go to Connaught Place without going to the upper floor. Only those who have to exit at Rajiv Chowk can avail themselves of this security facility,” said the official.
The ridership at Rajiv Chowk reach around 50,000, but interchange footfall is around 5 lakh per day. At Chandni Chowk, the location of frisking booths has been changed to give more space to passengers queuing up for token. There is no doubt that this is a good news for them.
Similarly, at New Delhi Railway Station, the DMRC has created a separate passage for passengers interchanging for the airport line. At Chattarpur and Chawri Bazar too,the DMRC has changed the direction of passengers.
Even at Vaishali, the DMRC is planning to remove token counters and place these on the first or ground floor to reduce congestion at security check points.
“At any Metro station, people queue up either at the security counter or at the token booth. So we are trying to separate the two areas to reduce congestion. Even so, security issues can not relax our vigilance. It still need some security equipments which can detect the human body’s metal and suspicious items, and check wheather they are carrying the dangerous items in their luggages. So that to some extent can prevent dangerous people to do some risky behavior.
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“We are purchasing 211 AFC gates that will take the total number to 1,825. After the recent addition, we will have 576 sets DFMDs and 268 sets baggage scanners and 1172 pieces HHMDs” the official added.
At HUDA city center, an overbridge was constructed to set up entry and exit on different floors. Similarly, at Kirti Nagar, the DMRC has set up entry and exit on different floors to decongest the station.
