Delhi Metro in 2021: Covid wave pause; second driverless ops to join elite club

New Delhi: Delhi Metro's journey was halted in its tracks for nearly a month in the year gone by due to the brutal second wave of Covid but the urban transporter tackled and surmounted many challenges amid the pandemic to achieve a few milestones, including running of next-generation driverless trains on its second corridor.

Driverless train operations on the 59-km Pink Line was started on November 25, putting the mass rapid transit system on fourth position globally among the networks which operate this cutting-edge technology.

While November saw a high for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the preceding few months for it was quite challenging, as it had to run operations with commuters being allowed with limited seating capacity, after resumption of services from June 7, post a nearly one-month long hiatus in services due to Covid restrictions imposed by authorities to check the spread of the pandemic.

DMRC services were fully suspended from May 10 in view of the Covid-induced lockdown in Delhi. It was first imposed on April 19, and successively extended by the city government. Services had run partially initially, catering only to people from the field of essential services. Following the relaxations in norms by authorities, the Delhi Metro was running with full seating capacity

from July 26, initially with no provision for standing travel for commuters, and later provision for standing was allowed with some regulations.

However, towards the fag end of the year, the rising number of Covid cases amid an Omicron scare, again prompted the government to impose fresh restrictions from December 28 onwards, under the 'yellow alert' category of the graded response action plan, devised earlier

by the city government after lessening of intensity of the second wave.

Under these restrictions, Delhi Metro trains are now again running with only 50 per cent seating capacity with no provision for standing for commuters, as it was in June.

Bracketed by these challenges, the DMRC, however, continued to endeavour to achieve goals it had set for itself, and to provide better amenities and more comfortable journey to its riders.

In a first-ever mid-life overhaul of its old rolling stock, the DMRC on November 29 had unveiled its first refurbished train which was introduced into service 14 years ago as part of its Ph-I network.

This exercise is part of a special drive undertaken by the Delhi Metro to retrofit and upgrade to modern standards all 70 trains which were procured by the urban transporter between 2002 and 2007, and plan is to complete refurbishment of the first set of ten trains by September 2022, a senior official said.

The first upgraded train, now equipped with LCD display, fire alarm system, CCTV cameras inside and outside coaches and in train operator's cabins, emergency button, charging socket for mobile phone and laptops including via USB cables, new flooring and redone exterior, was unveiled by DMRC's Managing Director Mangu Singh at the Yamuna Bank Depot here.