CWG opening ceremony rush: Delhi metro services till 1 am Monday
By IANSMonday, October 4, 2010
NEW DELHI - Delhi Metro made an extra effort to meet the rush for the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games by running over 100 extra train trips on all its lines and also continue its services till 1 a.m. Monday, an official said.
According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official, there was over 1.5 lakh footfall on the newly-opened Central Secretariat-Sarita Vihar line on the first day of its operations.
“To cater to the huge rush in view of the Games opening ceremony, the Delhi Metro, as a special case, ran over 100 extra train trips on all its lines, he said.
The official said the DMRC operation control centre also took a decision to extend the metro services till 1 a.m. Monday in view of the massive rush emerging from the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium after the opening ceremony got over around 11 p.m.
“The originating train services should have terminated at 11 p.m. otherwise,” he added.
On Line 6 from Central Secretariat to Sarita Vihar, an extra 35 train trips were made for ferrying passengers.
According to a spokesperson, nearly 38,000 people used the line to reach the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium metro station, where as many as 25,000 people used the exit/entry points, while 13,000 used the Jangpura metro station.
Therefore, over half of the total capacity of the stadium travelled by the metro to witness the historic event. A similar number of people used the metro to return from the stadium after the opening ceremony taking the total footfall of the two stations to over 75,000, he added.
The Central Secretariat-Sarita Vihar section was opened at 8 a.m. Sunday, a few hours ahead of the opening ceremony to cater to the rush on the opening ceremony day.
