Grievance cum suggestion for improved customer satisfaction - DMRC.
Sanjeev Goyal
PMOPG/E/2026/0137642
(1) DMRC is carrying a huge load of passengers daily. During peak hours coaches are over loaded. Despite the fact that we have deployed most modern systems to run the metro, there is no regulation when it comes to entry into or exit from a coach. While every coach has 4 wide doors there is no fixed entry & exit gate. Any gate can be used for entry & exit – leaving people jostling for going into opposite direction. In response to one of our earlier communication DMRC expressed following concern :
Given the fact that this regulation can bring a major upliftment in ridership experience, DMRC may consider the idea with open mind.
At present there are 2 major problems:
(i) For example, train generally stations for 10 seconds, after just 3-4 seconds people waiting to enter the coach become anxious and does not allow all passengers to de-board first and start jostling with them to capture the empty seats inside and
(ii) After entering the coach passengers don’t move sufficiently ahead inside thereby creating hindrance and slowing down the speed of other boarding passengers. As a result, many a time despite there being room in central part of coach people at gate just get squeezed.
Both the above issues can be easily handled just by marking gates for specific usage.
Crowd waiting at station becomes impatient and does not give sufficient time passengers to de-board, if ‘entry gate’ can be made which can allow people to board immediately there will be no problem and everything will fall in line.’
After entering car, passengers don’t move ahead quickly and block the way for others. They have no motive to move ahead as their target to enter the coach is fulfilled. By designating specific activity gates, a motive can be provided to passengers to move ahead towards exit gate instantly thereby keeping the entry area free from congestion. Also, as they know that they can’t descend from same gate they will never stand near it. Once the gate is marked exclusively for entry & exit most jostling happening on gate will end automatically. There are 4 gates in a coach and 2 alternate gates can easily be reserved for entry and exit.
With heavy crowd one more problem which has emerged is the delayed dispersement of crowd on the station. Presently, it is expected that people to get down first and thereafter people waiting on the station will enter the coach. Often there are situation where platform is full of people and when people come out of the coach the crowd at station swells, this becomes unmanageable for some moments and jostling starts happening. In a situation where 2 gates are there for entry and 2 for exit - both the actions of entry & exit can happen simultaneously. On one side passenger will be entering the coach & make space at station for other passengers to come out. Both the action will complement each other.
The fact that till date in response of at least half a dozen letters DMRC has not been able to give any solid reason to disapprove the suggestion is a proof that idea is worth giving a trial.
Just by implementing this all the confrontation between ascending & descending people can be avoided, which would in turn make the movement at gate much faster & efficient. Due to tendency of everyone to stay on gate the space in metro coaches is not being properly utilized, central part of coach is underutilized while gates are over-crowded. By implementing new system even better coach utilization can be ensured besides enhancing passenger comfort.
There is another issue, on less crowded stations whenever train is stationed and passengers have entered, the gate is instantly captured by persons due to descend on next station. While the train is still stationed there would be one passenger come running fast from platform to enter the stranded train and smash with the passengers standing on the gate. If you provide separate gates, this collision can be avoided.
It is requested that this land mark change be considered for implementation for enhanced passenger convenience, efficiency & better coach utilization which has always been the motto of Metro.
(2) DMRC in itself is a land mark in the history of Delhi. It completely changed the way people used to travel. It has many firsts added to it. It has always proactively acted for passenger ease & welfare. One more activity which may not be directly connected with travel convenient, yet may improve customer perception is to paint the name of station on top roof of some stations where it can be viewed by air passengers from ascending or descending aero planes. It will be exciting to identify metro station from air. As metro stations have virtually covered the whole city, such stations on the line of planes may be identified and painted.
