Travelers will also be able to use a mobile phone to enter or exit a station in its corridors.
New Delhi:
The automatic fare collection system on the upcoming Delhi Metro Phase IV lines will fully comply with the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), and travelers will also be able to use a mobile phone to enter or exit a station in their hallways. Said the head of DMRC, Mangu Singh.
Stating that the Delhi Metro is a “modern metro system” comparable to the best in the world, he also said that these two facilities could be implemented on the Airport Express Line by the end of this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019 launched the Local Development NCMC to allow people to pay multiple types of transportation fees, including metro and bus services across the country, through a common card.
Nicknamed the “One Nation One Card,” the interoperable transportation card would allow holders to also pay their toll taxes, parking fees, retail purchases, and even withdraw money.
Singh said that the facility to use mobile phones to enter or exit the automatic fare collection (AFC) gates is available in the main modern systems of several countries, including the Seoul Metro.
“We are working to continually improve our system, with better technological and other interventions, to improve our rolling stock and energy efficiency. At Ph-IV, our AFC system will fully accept national common mobility cards, which can be used in any city, “he told PTI.
“In addition, a mobile phone will function effectively as a smart card, and passengers will be able to use it to enter or exit the AFC gates, on Ph-IV lines,” Singh said.
The managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, however, underlined that the electronic payment system and technology is rapidly evolving and by the time the Ph-IV work is completed, new technologies may emerge.
“But we’ve been working on it for quite some time, and NCMC facilities and mobile phone in and out could be available by the end of this year on the Airport Express Line,” he added.
Currently, Airport Express Line passengers can also enter or exit the AFC gates using a QR code on the mobile phone that must be collected at a metro counter, but the future plan is to have a system whereby passengers can generate their own QR codes on phones and enter the AFC gates using that facility, the senior official said.
The head of DMRC said that these two facilities will be available first on the new lines to be built under Ph-IV and hopefully by the time the construction is finished the corridors to be built in this phase as extensions of the existing lines “as well will be updated “for compliance.
When asked if older smart cards would work on Ph-IV lines, he answered “Yes.”
The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister in March last year approved three of the six corridors of the proposed phase IV of the Delhi Metro.
In the approved segment of Phase IV, 61,679 km of new metro lines will be built in three different corridors comprising 45 metro stations. These new sections will provide interconnectivity between the already operational lines of the Delhi Metro.
According to the government, the Mukundpur-Maujpur, RK Ashram-Janakpuri West and Aerocity-Tughlakabad corridors were approved by the Cabinet.
The other three corridors proposed for Phase IV that have not yet been approved by the Union Cabinet are Rithala-Bawana-Narela, Inderlok-Indraprastha and Lajpat Nagar-Saket G Block.
After a long wait, work began on the construction of the Delhi Metro Phase IV project with a groundbreaking ceremony held at Haider Badli Mor here on December 30 last year.
And, with that, the piling work had begun for the construction of 10 stations of the 28.92 km Janakpuri West-R K Ashram Marg corridor, which is an extension of the Magenta Line and will have a total of 22 stations.
When asked about the status of station construction under Ph-IV, Mr. Singh said that tenders have been submitted and finalized for all major elevated sections.
The head of the DMRC said that the Ph-IV work has been affected by the COVID-19 situation, but the ongoing project will be delayed only a couple of months and therefore “will not involve a large escalation of costs. “.
“Individual projects have longer terms, so the impact would not be much. And construction work has not really been affected, since the financing for such projects comes from loans from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). Furthermore, 80-90 workers are back after they had moved to their places of origin due to the pandemic, “he said.
“So the work is progressing fully now,” Singh said.
On the status of the three remaining Ph-IV corridors, he said, “there is currently a setback for all new projects, as far as the central government is concerned, so we expect some delay in obtaining sanctions.”
“If the sanction happens within a year, let’s say, but we will stay ready by then with the design and details. Also, from the moment of approval, the work will start in a year and a half and it is likely that the time of completion is greater. It will be two and a half years from then, “he said.
The Ph-4 project will see many ups and downs and several firsts for the DMRC, including the first subway bridge over Yamuna to be built using the cantilever construction technique, and the highest point in the DMRC system, at Haiderpur Badli Mor, where The level of the viaduct will be 28 m.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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