In a bid to decongest the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, which often proves to be a nightmare for the commuters who board or interchange the train at this always-crowded station, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has thrown open the viewers’ gallery from Saturday that the commuters can now use to arrive at the right platform on the Blue line.
The move is aimed at facilitating smooth movement of passengers from one side of the station to another, to avoid unnecessary congestion inside the paid area, said an official statement issued by the DMRC.
The viewers’ gallery, which lies in the unpaid area of the metro station, can now be used instead of the footover bridge in the paid area to arrive at the right platform.
This will not only lead to decongestion of the paid area, as a huge segment of commuters end up at the wrong platform and then cross over, it will also lead to shorter queues for entering the paid area by equitably distributing the incoming passengers.
“It has been observed that generally 70 per cent of the passengers i.e. around 35,000 passengers (entry/exits of Rajiv Chowk is approx. 50,000) enter the station from Gate No. 5 to 8 and land up at Dwarka side platform and then cross the footover bridge (situated inside the station) to go towards Noida/Vaishali side platform. Similarly, the passengers who enter from Gate No. 1 to 4 but have to go towards Dwarka side, they also cross the footover bridge to go to the right platform,” said a metro official.
The official added that this causes unnecessary congestion on A and F block entries of the station whereas, B and D block entries are hardly used. “Also it causes unnecessary criss-cross movement of passengers on footover bridge and within the paid area of the station,” said the official.
With the opening of the gallery, passengers, even if they enter from a wrong side entry gate for their respective platforms, would be able to use the gallery to reach right entry side of the station and enter the right platform.
“This will lead to distribution of passengers evenly in the paid area… It will also reduce criss-cross movement on FOB leading to a better passenger management at the interchange station which witnesses an average footfall of around 5 lakh daily,” said the official.
The DMRC has also installed sign-boards at the entry gates, station area and viewers gallery to inform the passengers about platforms, destinations, direction of movement, gates to be used etc.
The decision to open the gallery for commuters was taken by the MD of DMRC Dr Mangu Singh after a late night inspection on June 19.