A massive renovation exercise was started by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRC) from July 2019 onwards for 21 of its stations between Dilshad Garden and Rithala section of Red Line which are amongst oldest in the Metro network opened under its Phase-I/II.
- The exercise was aimed at giving them an enhanced aesthetic look and upgradation of various infrastructure to keep pace with the changing times and ensuring an enhanced commuting experience to its customers.
- The massive renovation activities which are now completed on 12 of the 21 stations included: –
- Finishing/replacement of exterior façade with contemporary easy to maintain material.
- Relaying dilapidated granite flooring at concourse and ground level.
- Retroplating (chemical polishing) of platforms.
- Internal and External Painting of stations.
- Relaying and rerouting of old drainage system which was causing leakages including desilting/cleaning of circulating area drainage network.
- Improvement of circulating area and footpath for beautification and aesthetics of station premises.
- Replacement of Rolling shutters and Fire Doors as per requirement.
- New Signages as per latest specifications.
- Painting of Roof Trusses & Roof sheeting.
- Toilet block and parking renovation.
- Upgradation of existing fire fighting system.
- LED lighting at stations.
- Renovation of Escalators/installation of new escalators.
- Replacement of analog CCTV cameras with Digital version for enhanced clarity.
- Provision of insulation sleeve on catenary wire in station area and also installation of Bird spikes at various critical points to prevent OHE tripping due to bird menace.
- Major stations where the renovation work is almost complete are Dilshad Garden, Jhilmil, Mansarovar Park, Shahdara, Welcome, Shastri Park etc.
- The work at remaining Metro stations will also be completed by May 2021.
- To take stock of these massive renovation activities, Dr. Mangu Singh, Managing Director/DMRC inspected the various Metro stations on this section on the intervening night of 6th/7th March 2021.
- He was accompanied by Director (Operations), Mr A K Garg and other senior officials of DMRC during the inspection.
- DMRC has always been on the forefront of keeping its premises and services in best of the shape to serve as a world class Metro system for its millions of users.
- This exercise has been accomplished in a record time despite the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic, leading to even temporary halt of all the activities in 2020.
- Similar exercise(s) will also be carried out on other Lines in a gradual manner to keep the system and its services as a world class urban mass transport facility.
- The Red Line was the first Delhi Metro line which became operational in 2002 with the opening of the 8.4 KM long Shahdara to Tis Hazari section comprising 6 stations.
Other Initiatives:
As part of its continued endeavour to enhance commuting experience for its passengers, Delhi Metro on 9th February, 2021 commissioned 10 additional escalators at nine Metro stations including two new ones at Kashmere Gate Metro station, thereby taking the total tally of escalators at this station alone to a record 47 escalators for convenient passenger movement.
- These newer, easy to maintain escalators, updated with latest software will provide more ease to commuters especially during peak hours.
- The other stations where one additional escalator each has been commissioned for passenger service are:- Rithala on Red Line and Uttam Nagar (East), Nawada, Rajouri Garden, Shadipur, Yamuna Bank, Subhash Nagar and R K Ashram Marg on Blue Line.
- Kashmere Gate is the only multilayered triple interchange station of the Delhi Metro network which provides interchange facility between Line-1 (Red Line), Line-2 (Yellow Line) and Line-6 (Violet Line).
- With the addition of two more escalators, it has become India’s only Metro station having so many escalators facilitating convenient passenger movement between various levels.
- The station also has one of the tallest escalators of the network with a height of 14.5 m, after Janakpuri (West) on Magenta Line which has the tallest escalator with a height of 15.6 m.
- Besides this, there are six parallel escalators for interchange between Violet and Red Line and vice-versa, which is probably a rare and unique engineering feat at a station area across world Metros.
- Delhi Metro is also in the process of installing 22 more escalators at major stations across the network including five at Kashmere Gate thereby taking the total number of escalators at this station to 52.
- The other stations are:-
- Red Line: Dilshad Garden, Mansarovar Park, Shahdara, Seelampur, Netaji Subhash Place and Inderlok.
- Yellow Line: Model Town and Chhatarpur.
- Blue Line: Rajouri Garden, Tagore Garden, Jhandewalan, Rajender Place, Laxmi Nagar and Noida Sec-15.
- Green Line: Ashok Park Main.
- The installation and commissioning of these 22 escalators for passenger services is likely to be completed within the next 5-6 months.
- Further, Delhi Metro has also planned to install 32 more escalators at major stations such as Adarshnagar, Kirti Nagar, Noida Sec-16, Vaishali, Mundka etc. by March 2022.
- Presently, Delhi Metro has more than 1100 escalators installed and commissioned at its stations across the Delhi-NCR network with 389 KM and 285 stations.
Source: DMRC-Press Release
