Delhi Metro update: DMRC’s Year End Review-2021

December 29, 2021 Rail News

The year 2021 was a year of accomplishments for the Delhi Metro. Despite the challenges posed by covid induced conditions, the Delhi Metro inaugurated a new section on Grey Line, completed the missing link at Trilokpuri and launched Driverless Train Operations on Pink Line.

The following are the main highlights for the year 2021:

  • 15th January: In its pursuit to further upgrade its world class training facility at the Delhi Metro Rail Academy (DMRA), Shastri Park, a new four-storey simulator building was inaugurated in the DMRA premises by Dr. Mangu Singh, Managing Director/DMRC in the presence of Directors and other senior officials. Dr. Mangu Singh also inaugurated a new Foot Over Bridge (FOB) in front of Shastri Park Metro depot. 
    • This FOB allows pedestrians to cross safely the busy East Approach Road (the road leading from ISBT, Kashmere gate towards Shahdara across Yamuna) from both the sides.  
  • 21st January: First tunnel boring machine (TBM) of this phase started its drive to bore a 1.4-kilometre-long tunnel from Vikaspuri to Krishna Park Extension on the Janakpuri West – R K Ashram Marg corridor in the presence of DMRC’s Managing Director, Dr. Mangu Singh and other senior officials. 
    • Two parallel circular tunnels for up and down movement are being constructed on this stretch which is a part of the 2.2-kilometre-long underground section from Janakpuri West to Keshopur.
  • 29th January: A 76-metre-long pedestrian subway connecting the Netaji Subhash Place Metro station and the Netaji Subhash Place Shopping Complex in Pitampura was made operational. 
    • The shopping complex at Netaji Subhash Place (Pitampura) is located right opposite the Metro station, which is a vital interchange facility for the Red and Pink lines.
  • 9th February: Delhi Metro 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 provide more ease to commuters especially during peak hours. The other stations where one additional escalator each has been commissioned today 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
  • 25th February: Dr.  Mangu Singh, Managing Director/DMRC flagged off a fleet of 25 e-rickshaws, called ‘ETO’ from Jamia Millia Islamia Metro station of Magenta Line. 
    • These E-rickshaws ply from 6 AM to 11 PM daily providing last mile connectivity to nearby localities like, Batla House, Gaffar Manzil, Okhla Vihar, Zakir Nagar, Hazi Colony and Noor Nagar etc. 
    • A Charging Station for these electric vehicles has also been set up to ensure seamless service throughout the day.
  • 31st March: Delhi Metro in association with Amazon Pay introduced the facility of recharging the Delhi Metro Smart Cards through Amazon Pay. 
    • The facility was jointly introduced by DMRC’s Managing Director Dr. Mangu Singh and Mr. Mahendra Nerurkar, CEO, Amazon Pay through video conferencing in the presence of other senior officials.
    • To avail this facility, customers can open the Amazon shopping app and click on the ‘Metro Recharge’ option under Amazon Pay tab.
  • 6th July: For the first time in the country, a FASTag/UPI based cashless parking facility was launched at the Kashmere Gate Metro Station by Dr. Mangu Singh, MD, DMRC in the presence of senior officials of DMRC and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). 
    • As part of the Multi-Model Integration (MMI) initiative, dedicated Intermediate Public Transport (IPT) lanes for Auto, Taxi and E-Rickshaws were also inaugurated at station.
  • 6th August: The connecting link between Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 and Trilokpuri – Sanjay Lake Metro stations of Pink Line was formally inaugurated by the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Sh. Hardeep Singh Puri and the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sh. Arvind Kejriwal via video conferencing. 
    • The passenger services began later at 3 PM on the same day.
  • 12th August: Delhi Metro introduced Feeder Electric Buses on trial basis under which 25 low floor e-buses (24-seater) are plying from two routes from Shashtri Park Metro Station. 
    • Only Metro passengers having a Delhi Metro Smart Card or Metro DTC Smart Card are allowed to avail the services on these e-buses. 
    • They can use their Smart Card to pay for the cashless travel since these buses are fully contactless and conductor less enabling entry and exit through turnstiles from the Bus by using the Metro Smart Card.
  • 18th September: The Dhansa Bus Stand – Najafgarh section on the Grey Line of Delhi Metro was formally inaugurated for passenger services by the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Sh. Hardeep Singh Puri and the Chief Minister of Delhi, Sh. Arvind Kejriwal via video conferencing. 
    • The passenger services on this section commenced at 5 PM on the same day.
  • 26th September: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has earned a commendable ₹ 19.5 crore from the sale of 3.55 million carbon credits which it had collected over a period of six years from 2012 to 2018. 
    • DMRC has been a pioneer in India in quantifying climate change benefits from its operations. 
    • It has a number of dedicated projects to its credit oriented towards energy efficiency.
  • 17th October: Delhi Metro introduced the facility of free high speed Wifi service from all Metro stations of its Yellow Line (i.e, Line-2 from HUDA City Centre to Samaypur Badli). 
    • This service is launched on this Line which consists of 37 Metro stations and runs mostly underground through one of the most congested parts of Delhi covering outer Delhi, north Delhi through central Delhi and south Delhi and finally Gurugram.
  • 29th October: Dr. Mangu Singh, Managing Director/DMRC flagged off a fleet of 25 e-rickshaws, called ‘ETO’ from Noida Electronic City Metro station of Blue Line.
    • These E-rickshaws will be plying from 6 AM to 11 PM daily providing last mile connectivity to nearby localities of Noida Electronic City Metro station.
  • 29th October: The Delhi Metro was conferred with the prestigious ‘Award for Excellence in Urban Transport’ by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.  The award was given under the category ‘Metro Rail with the Best Passenger Services and Satisfaction’. 
    • Dr. Mangu Singh, MD, DMRC received the award from Sh. Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon’ble Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, at the 14th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference 2021 in Delhi. 
    • The UMI Conference is an annual flagship event organized by the MoHUA, which provides a platform for State/City officials to learn the best urban transport practices from global urban transport experts.
  • 22nd November: DMRC in association with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) launched the first prototype of an indigenous Rolling Stock Driver Training System (RSDTS) and also demonstrated the functioning of a Super – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, which is being developed as a monitoring system for equipment and assets to rationalize maintenance periodicity, manpower requirement and spares management. 
    • Sh. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Chairman, DMRC launched the Rolling Stock Driver Training System (RSDTS) and also watched the demonstration of the Super – SCADA system in the presence of DMRC’s Managing Director, Dr. Mangu Singh and other senior officials from DMRC and BEL.
  • 25th November: The Hon’ble Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Sh. Hardeep Singh Puri and Transport Minister of NCT of Delhi, Sh. Kailash Gahlot inaugurated the Driverless Train Operations (DTO) on the 59 kilometre long Pink Line (Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) of Delhi Metro via videoconferencing in the presence of Secretary, MOHUA, Sh. Durga Shanker Mishra, Managing Director, DMRC, Dr. Mangu Singh and other senior officials of Delhi Metro. 
    • With this, the Delhi Metro’s fully automated network grows to about 97 kilometres, which is 4th largest in the world and the only DTO network in India. 
    • The DTO facility was launched on the Magenta Line in 2020 with which the Delhi Metro had entered the elite league of world’s 7% Metros in the world which operate fully automated metro networks.
  • 28th November: A documentary film titled ‘Surmounting Challenges’ produced by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was screened in the prestigious Indian Panorama section of the 52nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), held in Goa from the 20th to the 28th of November, 2021. 
    • The 28 minute long non feature film deals with the various construction related challenges faced by DMRC during its third phase of expansion. 
    • With the help of new age graphics and interviews of the engineers who executed the difficult project, the film brings to light the massive effort put in by DMRC to expand the Metro footprint in the National Capital Region (NCR).
  • 29th November: DMRC’s Managing Director, Dr. Mangu Singh at the Yamuna Bank depot unveiled the first midlife refurbished metro train which was introduced into service in 2007. 
    • This endeavor is part of a special drive undertaken by DMRC to refurbish all the 70 Metro trains which were procured by DMRC in its Phase-I between 2002 and 2007 and have already completed 14 to 19 years of their overall 30-year life span. 
    • As part of this mid-life refurbishment, the trains are being retrofitted/modified with many new features in order to bring them at par with the rest of the trains which were subsequently introduced into service in DMRC’s Phase-II and III expansions.
  • 24th December: On the occasion of the commencement of 20th year of Delhi Metro’s operations, the field trial of the first ever indigenously developed i-ATS technology (Indigenous – Automatic Train Supervision) for Delhi Metro’s Red Line (Shaheed Sthal – Rithala) was inaugurated by Sh. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India and Chairman, DMRC via video conferencing.

On this occasion, Sh. Mishra also inaugurated an exhibition themed ‘Tracing Delhi Metro’s Journey’ which has been developed at the Kashmere Gate Metro station. The location from where, the then Prime Minister, Sh. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had inaugurated the first ever Metro corridor in the national capital on this day in 2002 has been redeveloped into a full-fledged exhibition with priceless photographs and anecdotes which shall take the visitors to a ride down the memory lane of that historic day which ignited a new revolution in India’s mass transit history.

Source: DMRC-Press Release | Image Credit (representational): DMRC