#IN TODAYS ECONOMY ITS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FULL#
We have a full -fledged director who looks after the projects outside. We have a separate organisation for taking up projects outside.
UNNI RAJEN SHANKER: You are part of DMRC, but you have a lot of work outside Delhi too. Somebody has to inspect it and certify that the train is fit to run. When a train comes in the morning, there are many requirements. So we have (just between) 12.30 and 4.30 am when all trains need to be inspected and made ready for next day. In the morning metro starts at 6 am, so work has to begin around 4.30-4.45 am or so. By the time it reaches the depot, it is past midnight, 12.30 am or so.
So when we say 11pm, the last train starts at 11pm. RAKESH SINHA: Why can’t the metro be round the clock? When the metro came into the picture, this was one of the requirements, that DTC routes should be rationalised and should be changed if need be. Let me put it this way - the planning is not in isolation. Before the project is finally sanctioned, it is studied by the transport department of the Delhi government, which ultimately controls the DTC also. The transport department of Delhi government has got a study done for the entire city and these (metro) corridors more or less fit into that. When a project is planned, the DMRC prepares a detailed report, like in the case of Phase-4 construction, and that fits into the overall planning of the city. So is there an engagement between the DTC and Delhi Metro in terms of rejigging the routes? So there are cases where you know five or ten corridors are required, (but) which one has to be taken up, of course this has to be decided by the political system.ĪNIL SASI: Before the metro came in, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) used to be the main feeder service in the city, but now that the metro has come in, a lot of these routes have become redundant. Yes… the big projects cannot be taken up without political support. For a new area there are tools available, and (using these tools) you work out the development planning, and then decide the corridors. The problem comes when there is a new area. Even a common man can tell you which corridor is a priority. In our country, for most of the cities we know the corridors. Based on these factors, we decide the corridors. Whether it is city or a region, there is planning about the kind of development that needs to be done - whether residential, commercial or institutional - and with that you work out which will be the best origin and destination, how the traffic will move from one area to another area etc. Why… because there is a scientific way of deciding the corridors. MANEESH CHHIBBER: How do you decide on areas that need a metro corridor? Is there pressure from politicians, the general public and do you take that into consideration?įirst, I will say no. So this will certainly help to the extent that the additional burden will come down, but it will not reduce the existing burden. If you have transit oriented development where the services, the facilities are all planned in such a way that the requirement of movement is reduced… so to that extent the use of private cars will reduce, number of trips will reduce, the requirement for a journey will reduce. But allowing high rises along the corridors will not take care of the existing problem. If you allow dense development along a metro station or a metro corridor, then the traffic is reduced, and the same space can accommodate more people. The concept of TOD basically means that along the (metro) corridors, since you have a means of efficient public transport, you don’t need to use your private car.
But I am confident that once Phase-3 and Phase-4 (of metro construction) is completed, all areas will be covered. The only issue is that the network is still not complete, certain areas are not covered, there are areas from which the stations are quite far away. We have tried to cover almost the entire Delhi-NCR. The location of the station of course has to cater to different areas. There are many CBDs (central business districts) - Nehru Place, Connaught Place, Karol Bagh and now Noida, Gurgaon. They have very well-defined central business districts and so the traffic is well defined too. If you see the geography of the major cities in the world, Delhi is slightly different in comparison to Paris or London or any other international city. There is not much public transport to cover that. We also have the issue of last-mile connectivity. SHALINI NAIR: Internationally metro stations are close to where people live or work, though this is not the case in India.