To thwart the spurt in suicide attempts at the Metro premises, Delhi Metro has decided to install half length platform screen doors at all the Metro stations on the upcoming lines — Mukundpur to Yamuna Vihar and Janakpuri West to Kalindi Kunj.
The Half length doors will act as a protective barrier and separate the platform from the track. The proposed lines, which are currently under construction, are part of the Delhi Metro’s ambitious phase III network. With the installation of these platform screen doors, the stations under the phase III network will resemble those on the high-speed Airport Express line.
These doors which will act as a protective barrier will put an end to the rising suicide attempts and the incidents of commuters falling on the metro tracks.
“All the Metro stations on lines 7 and 8 will be installed with half-length platform screen doors. For the safety of the Delhi Metro commuters, these doors will be installed simultaneously, as in when the process of installation starts. To assess their functioning, these doors will be first installed on four to five operational stations as a pilot project,” said Mangu Singh, Managing Director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
Earlier as a safety measure, Delhi Metro was earlier examining the possibility of installing full length platform screen doors, akin to the ones introduced in the Airport Express line. The Corporation has been avoiding to introduce platform screen doors on its stations due to apprehensions that the full length screen doors might cause overheating of the underground tunnels due to lack of ventilation.
Due to this, the plan was reworked and approximately seven inch platform screen doors will now be installed at the upcoming Metro stations on the lines connecting Mukundpur to Yamuna Vihar and Janakpuri West to Kalindi Kunj.
Officials feel that the installation of these doors might slow down the speed of the trains. This is due to the fact that two sets of doors — those of the coaches and the platform screen doors will now have to be opened and closed before the trains can move.
On the issue of decongesting the Noida City Centre/Vaishali to Dwarka Sector 21 line, he said that all the trains on the corridor will be converted into six coach ones by December and then subsequently into eight coach ones.
To improve the end-mile connectivity he said that 400 new feeder buses will be inducted to the Delhi Metro’s feeder bus fleet, which will start hitting the roads from July. Delhi Metro Chief expressed optimism on the completion of the construction work on phase III lines within the schedule.