When I was in Delhi last week attending the International Seminar on Total Loss Prevention at Hotel Le Meridien our friends at RBI, Delhi advised me to take a trip on the newly commissioned Delhi Metro Rail Service. So I took time off during lunch hours one day to get a feel of the same. Three other colleagues from the Bank were also with me on this occasion. We walked across to the Patel Chowk station and bought tickets for Chawri Bazaar (though we wanted to go to Chandni Chowk). The tickets are in the form of round plastic tokens which have an addressable microchip embedded within. The frequency of the trains is 4-5 minutes so one does not have to wait for long periods at the station. We boarded our train and reached Chawri Bazaar in 7-8 minutes even though the train stopped for a minute each at intermediate stations of Rajiv Chowk and New Delhi Railway Station. On getting down at Chawri Bazaar we went to the exit point which was manned by a sentry and told him that our station was one stop further. He guided us to the adjacent ticket counter where we tendered our tokens and the difference in fare amounting to one rupee each and our tokens were refreshed with the fresh data. Thereafter we caught another train and reached Old Delhi Railway Station in a couple of minutes or so. We got out towards Chandni Chowk and purchased sweets at the famous "Ghantewala" sweet shop and returned to Patel Chowk which is a short walk away from Hotel Le Meridien. At the destination we had to put our tokens in the slot built into the turnstile which lifts the barrier allowing one to walk through. The whole round trip including the shopping did not even last an hour. Kudos to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for making a world class rapid mass transport system possible well within the target date. Earlier the idea of visiting old Delhi was out of question unless one was prepared to sweat it out for 3-4 hours. The entire system is comparable with the London tube railway as well as the New York subway. In fact I liked it better than both of them in terms of cleanliness and efficiency. India is really shining Guys !!!
1 comment:
Delhi's metro is comparablle with the world's best. I had also traveled on the same route during my visit in october. The plush interiors, the spacious and asthetically designed stations and plastic token system instead of the paper ticket is a step ahead of the others. The flyovers and the metro has changed capitals'road map. I wish other metros take the cue. Particularly 'aamchi Mumbai' and 'aamaar Kolkata'
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