Appooppanthaadi -10 (Delhi Metro)

21.03.2011
Superb. This single word will tell everything about Delhi Metro in a nut shell. No doubt, this is a world class mass transport system. Delhi metro deserves three cheers. Nothing less than that.


The metro operates in 6 lines. It takes the Delhiites to the length and breadth of the city with ease. Like a breeze, it chugs past Noida City centre and within an hour or so, reaches the other end of the city – Dwarka. The journey is cool. Leterally cool. Air conditioned coaches, superior suspension to avoid jerks, and announcements about the stations makes the metro journey a special experience.

Nevermind if they advise us through the public address system not to play music inside the train and spit inside or outside the train. The trains and the platforms are extremely neat and tidy. There are people who clean the platform at regular intervals.

A journey from Airport to New Delhi Railway station can be on one of best in the world. It is unbelievable. Perhaps, we will, for a while, think that we are in a magical world. Elegantly constructed Airport Express Rail simply blows you away.


Constructed and maintained by Reliance, this line is between Dwarka sector 21 and New Delhi railway station. The cost of journey between the Airport and ND Railway station is Rs80/- Just sit back and enjoy the journey. You will cherish it for long. The tracks are underground for some distance and then comes over ground. Then goes again under ground. Most of the other five lines run or the ground on bridges. Time taken to reach from airport to the railway station is just 15 minutes.

The other five lines are maintained and operated by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. There, the charges are comparatively less. A journey from New Delhi to Noida will cost us Rs 21. The time taken will be just 45 minutes.

If anyone happened to travel to or from Noida pre-metro days would have sweated it out on the buses. The private bus operators run the busses at dangerously high speeds and they compete with each other. There were a number of accidents too. Now the picture has totally changed. The journey is now in air-conditioned trains. I do not think Delhiites can ask anything more than this. There are lifts and escalators in each station. All are working too. Honestly, I don’t remember to have seen a lift at any of the metro stations in Paris.

At any given time, the trains are jam packed. It looks as if the Delhiites were waiting for something like this. The patronage from the general public is overwhelming. The most incredible thing I could see was at Rajiv Chowk station. Passengers stand in queue to board the trains. They board the trains with uncharacteristic discipline. Hope the Mumbaikars too try to emulate this in their sub-urban train journeys! Courting impossibilities,eh?


Rajiv Chowk is like a junction. We have to change train at this station to reach different locations.

Tickets are sold at counters. We are issued a blue coloured token. This, we have to place on the designated spot at the automated entrance gates. Upon placing the token, the gates are opened. While leaving the platform at the destination, we have to deposit the token at the gate, then the gate opens. This is a paperless system which makes the ticketing eco-friendly.


The only thing that irritates the passengers a little bit is the use of cell phones by some passengers. Some people speak very loudly. In every journey I made in the metro, I could see people talk very loudly over their phones. Most of these people talk either about their patty business dealings or family matters. This is a little irritating for the fellow passengers

Though the metro rail system works like a well oiled machine, the situation in New Delhi metro station looked a little chaotic. People walk along in the station without getting proper directions. I lost count of the number of people who asked me for directions and the number of people whom I saked for direction. Most of the commuters at New Delhi metro station seem to know very little about the direction inside the station. The sign boards are not enough to guide people in proper directions.

As we walk out of a magnificiant world, there awaits the real world. The untidy, dirty streets, indisciplined road users, wayside hawkers who occupies the foot paths and the poor rickshaw pullers who wait for the customers to make both the ends meet. This really ruffles up the happiness of having tavelled in a world class transport system. Be ready to face such inconveniences when you walk out of the metro stations...


For more pictures of Delhi metro, click the link : https://picasaweb.google.com/ppnatesan/DelhiMetro?authkey=Gv1sRgCL7oqvP-pKvl8wE