Sep 03, 2014 02:10 PM
16225 Views
There is a lot of back-patting and self-congratulation by Delhi Metro about how “world-class” they are. Anybody who has used a metro/underground rail service anywhere in the world(particularly in Europe) will tell you otherwise. And I am not referring to all those snags and hold-ups that have been plaguing DMRC of late; I am talking about systemic faults that remain un-addressed on a long-term basis.
One: Crowd management – it really sucks, especially at the key stations like Rajiv Chowk, Anand Vihar, Central Secretariat, Kashmiri Gate and Yamuna Bank. Even where on-platform Security Guards are posted, they conveniently vanish at peak hours when the pushing and shoving is at its worst.
Two: Route management – there seems to be zero planning and a host of arbitrary decisions. Suppose you help an elderly couple or a lady carrying an infant to board at Rajiv Chowk making sure that they take a train bound for Dwarka Sector 21 so that they won’t have to de-board and re-board at Dwarka Mor, in a large number of cases, the trains arbitrarily terminate at Dwarka.
Again, suppose you put your elderly parents on a train for Vaishali so that they can get off at Anand Vihar, there are no guarantees that your thoughtfully planned intervention will work. Trains on the Vaishali route are ever so often changed arbitrarily to Noida City Centre and vice versa.
It is extremely inconvenient – and anything but “world-class”.
Three: Time Management – speak with regular Delhi Metro passengers and all of them will have horror stories of how they have missed trains or planes because they were stuck in the Metro or because the trains were creeping along at snails’ pace. It has happened to me several times on the Dwarka Line – and when I say several I mean more than a dozen times in the space of two years.
To conclude.
I know this is India. I know this is perhaps the best we can expect. But hey Delhi Metro, please stop calling it a “world-class service”.
