DMRC liable to commit technical, human errors: DMRC Opn Director - News

''With the opening of this line, which is extended to 190 km, the present load of nine lakh commuters will be increased to around 22 lakhs and around 200 trains, many with six coaches, will be doing more than 3,500 trips. This requires us to strengthen ourselves technically as well as mentally,'' said Mr Rajkumar, Director, Opertation, DMRC.

Admitting that in a huge network like Metro, some technical faults and human errors are unavoidable, he requested the media not to blow things out of proportion.

''Everyday a lift operates two lakh times and gates of trains open for 5.2 lakh times which shows the intense pressure under which the system works,'' he said. Talking about genuine and natural faults, Mr Rajkumar said, ''There are faults related to signalling, tracks, esclators, lifts and display which happen everywhere and cannot be avoided, especially when the maintenance time given to each train in less than four hours, which is very less in comparison to other metro networks in the world.'' Citing an exmaple of London metro system, he said, ''There, after every six months, the whole sytem undergoes maintenance check and kept shut for a few days, which is not possible in India.'' ''In some countries, metro systems are kept closed on holidays for maintenance work but in our country trains are run on tracks on all days. ''We do our maintenance work at night. Since it is a small system, things are manageable but with the more and more expansion, things are bound to become complex,''he added.

Raising the issue of cable theft cases which numbered 55 in the past one year, the Operation Director said, ''The lines are divided in 250 meter segments. To trace the exact point immediately where theft has occured is not an easy task. It takes time and affects the timing of the train.'' He said unfortunately instead of appreciating the Metro for its competance and efficiency, people considered it as a ''super efficient'' system in which ''any fault was a national news''.

''In fact on Shahadra, Seelampur stations, we receive complaints of stone pelting every day which is very unfortunate,'' he added.

He said Delhi metro is 'number one' in terms of punctuality in comparison to metro networks in other parts of the world.

''It has 99.5 per cent punctuality,'' he informed.

When asked about the esclators and lifts, he said even a minute dust particle was enough to create problem in the system. Moreover, people here were not aware of the manners of walking on the esclators. Mere jumping and running on the staircase could open the safty vaults of the esclators, he said.

Seeing the increasing rush on the platforms Mr Rajkumar said, ''DMRC is planning to increase the number of lifts, esclators and railings on the new as well as old lines.'' If need arose, new esclators would be installed at Rajiv Chowk, Chandni Chowk, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi and Kashmere Gate where rush was more and the fear of stampede was high, he informed.

From its present strength of 160, esclators in the new phase will be increased to 450 and lifts will from 200 to 400.

''In fact, DMRC will recruit 6,000 more employees against existing 2600 employees which means that every kilometer of the track will be looked after by 37 DMRC personnel,''he added.

Mr Rajkumar also said the people as well as mediapersons should understand that Metro was just a mechanical system and bound to fail at times due to any human or natural error.

-- (UNI) -- 27DI62.xml

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