Safety doors at six Metro platforms may take another year

New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Delhi Metro's platform screen doors for better safety and crowd management may take up to March 2018 before the system is put into service in at least six stations of its Yellow Line that attracts the most number of commuters, an official said on Tuesday.

The Metro decided to first install such doors -- made of glass and metal and placed just ahead of where train gates open -- at six stations on the Yellow Line that runs from Samaypur Badli to Huda City centre in Gurugram. The six stations are considered among the most crowded in the entire network.

Although the doors have already been installed at Chandni Chowk, Chawri Bazar and New Delhi stations they are not yet operational. The PSDs (platform screen doors) were also to be installed at Kashemre Gate, Rajiv Chowk and Central Secretariat stations.

The work on these doors was earlier scheduled to be over by March 2017 but it has been missing deadlines.

Metro spokesperson Tomojit Bhattacharjee told IANS that the work for installing the safety doors was slowed because of the restricted time allowed by the 16-hour operation of running trains.

"The work is expected to be completed by March 2018. The installation of PSD is being restricted by the train operations which run up to midnight from early morning. The work can only be executed from 1 a.m. to 3.30 a.m," Bhattacharjee said.

The PSDs open and close along with the opening and closing of the train door. The ones being installed now will have advertisement features to generate revenue for the transporter.

Although, the main function is to manage the surging crowd of commuters, which swells further during the peak hours, the PSDs may also prove handy in preventing suicide bids.

According to Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) data, from January 2016 and up to March 2017, a total of 90 suicides were attempted across the Delhi metro stations. Of this, 17 resulted in death. CISF was able to prevent 14 such attempts.

"There's no denying that these doors will help us prevent suicide attempts, but that would be an unintended consequence. Through these doors, we intend to manage the crowds effectively. The prevention of suicide bids was not on our minds when we thought of them," Bhattacharjee added.

All stations on the Airport Line (New Delhi-Dwarka Sector 21) are equipped with PSDs. The upcoming Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar) and Magenta Line (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden) will come with PSDs installed.