NEW DELHI: There is a growing concern among Delhi Metro passengers that the surge in the number of people during peak travel hours can lead to a stampede-like situation at stations.
The Hauz Khas metro station, for one, becomes extremely congested during the busy hours. There is always a fear of a chaotic situation developing due to the crowding. It is the same at many other stations.
In the aftermath of the disaster at New Delhi Railway Station on Feb 15 that took a toll of 18 lives, TOI visited various metro stations, observing significant crowding during peak hours.
In particular, the escalators were packed with passengers shoving each other while the staircases remained largely unused.
Delhi Metro passenger journeys reached an all-time high last year with 78.7 lakh riders on a single day in Nov 18 (this Jan, the average passenger journeys were 66 lakh compared with 60.6 lakh in Jan 2024).
People opt for the urban train system because of the inadequacies in other public transport.
The passageway to access both the Yellow and Magenta lines at Hauz Khas metro station is one of the longest among the stations. On Friday evening, TOI found that the passageway chock-a-block with commuters in both the directions.
It was worse at the platform where a swarming mass waited to board the Magenta Line train. Among them were many who had disembarked from trains on Yellow lines, whose frequency is better than those on the Magenta Line.
Shefali Arora, who travels daily to Gurgaon, said, "The platform at Hauz Khas metro station is always very congested and any untoward incident, even a stampede, can happen. Delhi Metro should take measures to decongest the metro station."
Arnav Rastogi, a student, said he too faced inconvenience every day entering and exiting trains at peak hours at halts such as Hauz Khas, Laxmi Nagar and Rajiv Chowk. "The frequency of trains should be increased to prevent overcrowding and other measures should also be taken to manage the gathered passengers," he said.
Things were no better at other metro stations during peak hours. Most passengers complained about escalators where, at times, three people are forced to stand on each step. Satyajeet Khurana said, "Last Sunday, I almost couldn't use the escalator at Chandni Chowk station because of the huge number of people using it."
It's not only the platforms or the concourses that are crammed. Even the trains leave no space to wiggle for passengers. Aashi Singh, who travels daily from Rajiv Chowk to Shahdara, said, "I skip crowded trains and prefer the women's coach, which is more manageable space-wise."
There is no alternative for travellers trying to use public transport. In 2018, Delhi govt informed the Supreme Court that the city required 11,000 buses to meet the citizens' transportation needs. However, there are only 7,600 public buses in the fleets run by Delhi Transport Corporation and Cluster Scheme. Of these, 3,000 CNG buses are more than 10 years old. Traffic police revealed that an average of 70 buses break down every day. Besides, people have no way of checking whether or when a bus will arrive on a route.
Amit Bhatt, India managing director, International Council on Clean Transportation, said, "In central Delhi, at the Udyog Bhawan, Central Secretariat and Rajiv Chowk metro stations, queues stretch even outside the stations in the evening when all the offices get over around the same time and the security screening cannot speedily clear the flow. Similarly, there are serpentine queues at Millennium City Centre and Sikandarpur metro stations in the mornings."
There was a need to relook the system, he said. "We need to introduce technological interventions. For instance, the security checks at Dubai airport are fast and passengers do not have to take out their laptops for checking," said Bhatt. "Secondly, we should create redundant infrastructure like Hong Kong and Singapore. It means if there is a demand for two staircases, build three staircases for the smoother flow of passengers. Thirdly, we need to adopt new technologies like AI for crowd management. With the help of AI, it can be easily determined if there is a requirement to hold passengers in one area."
Bhatt admitted that bus transport wasn't delivering the way it was expected to. Gurgaon has just 150 buses when more than 650 are needed, a situation similar to Delhi in terms of demand and supply. "Apart from improving bus infrastructure, we should integrate the bus and metro train systems with pedestrian-friendly options," he said.
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