Delhi Metro's Rollar Coaster

Since DMRC started operations in 2002, the network, ridership and technical snags new trains; have led to increasing instances of overcrowding and delays on the Delhi Metro. Now the scene is that during rush hours, there is no space to even rest your foot in the train. And this is happening even after the frequency of trains has been increased to 1 every 3 minutes! This is not only causing extreme discomfort to all the passengers but also promoting increased cases of theft and eve-teasing.

What would you suggest should be possible solutions to the problems mentioned above?

Thanks to Rahul's initiative,

Rahul, Abhishek, Rakesh and Saurabh and I- All five of us discussed the issue with some possibly pragmatic soultions. Following is the un-edited version of the chat we did via gmail:

I feel lack of civic sense in metro travelers is a major cause of "roller coaster" ride and a possible solution is "education". If people can be educated to stand in queues on Rajiv Chowk underground line, even if it took couple of security men, then few lessons on metro travel etiquette can definitely help.

-Ankit Goel
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Ankit,
I agree 100% with you on this.. We can't blame police and government every time.
Consider this: The situation is just next to "stampede" at the peak hours. What will 5 or 10 policemen do in this situation?
Though I think increasing the coaches in a train to almost double may help to certain extent but it will also be saturated after some months or so. However, that will require expansion of all the existing stations as currently they are designed to handle only a certain length of train. This will require some investment from DMRC but I think it will be worth it.

-Rahul Aggarwal
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Ankit and Rahul,

Both of you have highlighted the very key concerns regarding the issue. Kudos! Adding to your viewpoints, I would like to suggest to the DMRC, the following inputs:

1. First of all there should be a separate compartment for ladies because women suffer a lot in these kinds of situations and they are literally sandwiched between men while commuting.

2. The crowd can be managed and it's just a matter of strong will and strict governance.
Solution: How the crowd can be managed:
We can have load sensors in the metro compartments beyond which a signal with sound and light is flashed indicating that no more people can be accommodated like we have in lifts. In this way the person entering last has to move out.
Also, to maintain this there should be at least one or two guards at each and every station so that a queue is maintained and if a guy/gal is not able to make it to the last train, he is assured that he will be the first one to enter in the next train.

3. The frequency should be increased but the destination of trains should also be altered.
Like every train should not start from station A, some should start from station B, some from C depending upon the statistics we can manage the crowd.

4. In few of the compartments we can remove the whole seating arrangement. In this manner we can increase the capacity. For a short journey there is no need of making people seated. Metro is a comfortable journey and we should bear the standing arrangement for the betterment of this particular commuting system.

5. Last but not the least, people should be charged for the size of their luggage. In this manner we can minimize the size of the luggage creating more space.

-Rakesh Thakur
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Having read all of your comments it makes little sense for me to enter the discussion at this point, but still I would like to compliment you guys for some noteworthy suggestions. I though have a few of my own to add to this list. They are:

1. Instead of load sensors, the metro should have a maximum capacity of people that can enter as opposed to all that can fit currently. For this guards are needed to be placed at every gate on the metro. This means 2 guards per door for 16 doors. But this need not be for all stations. It should be maintained on only those stations that experience heavy volumes during the day. The metro can have a counter running telling you how many people can enter the train at a particular station, streamlining the process.

2. We can't eliminate seating arrangement as elderly, physically disabled people would need seats.

-Saurabh Gupta

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To me the only solution looks like, educating the people or may be having a public grievance cell which redresses the grievances urgently. Something like, a fasttrack investigation in case of pick pockets. Other culture that might help is "the queue culture", this culture can be seen in abundance in Kolkata ( though not on metro stations!) but this brings about some discipline in people which can be witnessed when u travel in the metro rail in Kolkata.

-Abhishek LNU

Sharpen your Axe..

I still remember the third year of my engineering when companies started approaching our campus, there were presentations from all organizations in order to help students choose which company they want to appear for. The college rule being, if a person is selected in a company he would be out of the loop and will not be considered for other companies so as to give chance to others.

Hence to sort out the confusion there were presentations from company representatives for eligible candidates one week before the actual placements started.


Till that time my knowledge for the companies was limited to Infosys and Wipro and of the two I selected to attend the presentation of Infosys.


Although I didn’t get a chance to appear for Infosys aptitude later as I had already been selected for another company by the time Infosys hit our campus but I will never forget the teaching that I got during the presentation.


I clearly remember a well dressed person giving a fabulous presentation and at the end he asked if any of us had any doubts, to which I had stood up and asked

“Sir, There are core companies approaching our campus and they select students from specific domains and do not allow computer and IT people, like there are hard core mechanical companies recruiting only mechanical engineers, Similar is the case with Civil and Electrical, then why is it that SW companies like Infosys recruit people from all domain? This brings tougher competition and lesser chance for students of IT and Computers”

I can never forget the answer that the gentleman gave.

“…. There is a difference between education and experience. Education is what you get from reading the small print. Experience is what you get from not reading it! 

We as an organization believe that what we look for in a person is general logic and thinking ability, the rest we are confident , our training will do no matter which major you have graduated with”

That very day I had realized a really big thing which I want to share with you all today.

Read the story below

John, a woodcutter, worked for a company for five years but never got a raise. The company hired Bill and within a year he got a promotion. This caused resentment in John and he went to his boss to talk about it. The boss said- “You are still cutting the same number of trees that you were cutting five years ago. We are a result oriented company and would be happy to give you a raise if your productivity goes up”

John went back started hitting harder and putting in longer hours but he still wasn’t able to cut more trees. He went back to his boss and told his dilemma. The boss asked John to go and talk to Bill. “May be there is something that Bill knows that you and I don’t know”

So John went to Bill and asked Bill how he managed to cut more trees to which Bill answered, “After every tree I cut I take a break of 2 minutes and ‘sharpen my axe’. When was the last time you sharpened your axe?”

This question hit like a bullet and John got his answer.


“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?”, Sometimes If you want to progress in life you cannot rest on your past laurels, You must continuously sharpen the axe of your knowledge, skill and expertise in whatever field of activity you may be!”

A Young man who graduated yesterday and stops learning today will become uneducated tomorrow…

By sharpening your axe appropriately, I wish you to attain your goals.

P.S. - Not my composition but I liked the idea behind it.

Ram Charan - Global Management Guru