Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Within six days of registering its highest ever ridership, the Delhi Metro again surpassed the earlier record as over 18 lakh commuted in its trains Monday, an official said Tuesday.

The figure of 18,30,944 surpassed the previous record of 17,71,668 set 25 July, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official said.

“It was also the first time the DMRC carried over 18 lakh passengers on a single day. The ridership is witnessing a steep increase during weekdays,” the official said.

“The DMRC has added 2.5 lakh passengers in the first six months. The average daily ridership which was 13.59 lakh in January 2011 stood at 16.08 lakh in July 2011,” the official said.

According to DMRC, the modern transport system is registering an increased ridership on working days — Monday to Friday — for the past two months of June and July.

The usually overcrowded Noida line (Dwarka Sector 9 to NOIDA City Centre/Yamuna Bank to Anand Vihar) recorded the maximum ridership of over seven lakh followed by Gurgaon line (Jahangirpuri to HUDA City Centre) at about six lakh.

The Rithala to Dilshad Garden Metro stretch had a ridership of over two lakh.

The Metro stations which witnessed a significant increase in ridership are Barakhamba Road, Mandi House, Mohan Estate, Noida Sec-16, Central Secretariat, Patel Chowk, Vishwavidyalaya, Udyog Bhawan, Tis Hazari and Garden Estate.

Currently, the DMRC has a pool of 200 train sets with 59 of these being six-coach formations.

With Phase-III of the network expected to cover about 108 km, the Delhi Metro network will become 295 km by 2016, making it one of the fastest expanding Metro networks in the world carrying about 40 lakh passengers.