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T
here had never been a sub-
way of this magnitude built
anywhere in India before. In
fact, it was quite unlike any
other project due to
the sheer scale of it.
A decade later, the Delhi Metro
has been hailed as one of the success
stories of modern India.
Today the Delhi Metro carries 2.7
million passengers daily safely to their
destination across 190 kilometers of
track and through 137 stations.
Learning to move the masses
One of the key functionalities of any
metro station is to keep people
moving smoothly – from the platform
to the train, from the concourse level
to the street.
Delhi Metro is no exception. It
became apparent that Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC) needed a deliv-
ery partner with vast experience in
moving people in transit stations.
“When we evaluated our needs for
equipment, we began listing qualifying
criteria. One benchmark was experience
in similar projects elsewhere in the
world. We discovered that KONE
fulfilled this, and in fact several other
conditions we had set,” says
Anoop
Gupta
, Director (Electrical) of DMRC.
Soon after the Delhi Metro was
operational, it was agreed that passen-
ger flow at the stations was inefficient.
Work was already underway to
extend the network, so passenger
numbers were expected to swell even
further.
The issue of people flow needed
to be addressed urgently.
KONE conducted a study of the people
flow as well as passenger needs at four
different stations: Rajiv Chowk, Kashmere
Gate, Civil Lines and Vidhan Sabha.
Each station was carefully chosen
based on its uniqueness in size,
Text
Pia Heikkilä
Photos
Amit Arora, KONE
and
istock
Delhi – a megacity of more than 20 million people – was for years known for its terrible
traffic, poor roads and even poorer infrastructure. Millions struggled with their daily commute
because the city lacked a proper public transport system. When the city’s new metro plan
was unveiled in 2002, the mammoth project was as ambitious as it was urgent.
PEOPLE FLOW |
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