The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) completed yet another eventful year of its journey on 03.05.2020 as it observed its 26th Foundation Day. However, unlike the preceding years, this year, the occasion could not be formally celebrated in view of the ongoing lockdown to combat the Covid – 19 pandemic.
In a message, DMRC’S Managing Director, Dr. Mangu Singh congratulated the employees and said, “On this special day, we should all be extremely proud of what we have been able to achieve as an organisation. Today, the Delhi Metro stands as one of the largest Metro systems in the world with a massive network of 360 kilometres, 264 stations and 14 depots. More than sixty lakh journeys with a punctuality of over 99 percent were being performed on the Delhi Metro everyday prior to the suspension of services in March.”
The last one year of DMRC’s journey was also studded with many milestones.
- The Dwarka – Najafgarh Metro corridor was inaugurated on 4th October, 2019, taking the Metro for the first time to the outer Delhi areas of west Delhi.
- From 22nd October, last year, DMRC took charge of the Rapid Metro in Gurugram, therefore, ensuring smooth continuation of Metro services in the satellite city.
- The work for Delhi Metro’s Phase 4 was also formally commenced on 30th December on the Janakpuri West – RK Ashram corridor. Subsequently, work started on the other two approved corridors as well.
- The highest ever number of passenger journeys at 66.17 Lakh were performed on 16th September 2019 reinforcing the status of Delhi Metro as the mass transportation backbone of the National Capital Region (NCR). In fact, althrough last year, Delhi Metro registered an average of about 60 lakh journeys on weekdays.
The Delhi Metro services have been under suspension in larger public interest since 22nd March, 2020. However, during this period of lockdown as well, a number of activities have been taken up to keep the Metro in readiness to resume operations at the earliest. Few of the activities undertaken during lockdown period in numbers:
- About 3,500 workers employed in various Delhi Metro sites are being taken care of since the beginning of the lockdown. All basic amenities including medical care being provided to them.
- Over 3,500 train trips made by the Delhi Metro trains since the beginning of the lockdown till 2nd May to keep the Metro system in readiness to resume operations.
- Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system of over 2000 train coaches was thoroughly checked including first ever drive to clean HVAC systems of around 1200 coaches with special chemicals by effectively utilizing the lockdown. This exercise would not have otherwise lingered over longer periods due to train availability in normal scenario. Train availability to carry out such massive exercise has always been an issue in past during normal train revenue services when trains run upto 20 hours a day. This thorough cleaning exercise would result in better air-conditioned environment in summers.
- Over 110 reimbursable online courses have been provided for DMRC employees, which they can pursue to enhance their professional skills and knowledge during the lockdown period. In addition, over 15 webinars were organised on a range of issues for the benefit of employees and their families.
” On this special occasion, DMRC would like to thank all the people of Delhi – NCR for their continuous patronage. We all shall certainly overcome the present crisis and again emerge as the lifeline of the national capital region.”
Source: DMRC
