Eight depots for Metro as it chugs along ever-widening network

The DMRC is currently running 70 trains (280 coaches) with a ridership of 8.5 lakh daily. With the opening of new lines,however,in Delhi,Gurgaon,Noida and Badarpur,the number will go up to 153 trains (a total of 900 coaches) and an expected ridership of 20 lakh by September 2010,the scheduled time for the completion of Phase II.

The DMRC will be adding 86 stations with an additional network of 128.06 km,a total of 110.99 km in Delhi and 17.07 km in the NCR.

“We have just three depots as of now at Shashtri Park,Khyber Pass and Najafgarh. The new trains that have been coming in were being sent to Khyber Pass for commissioning,” said Anuj Dayal,DMRC spokesperson.

“With the opening of the Yamuna Bank depot,which is an important interchange station for the Anand Vihar and Noida lines,oscillation trials for this corridor can be managed directly from here,” he added.

The new depots will come up at Mundka for the Inderlok to Mundka line,Sultanpur for Central Secretariat to Gurgaon and Sarita Vihar for Central Secretariat to Badarpur.

The Airport Express Link will have an entirely separate depot run by the concessionaire of Reliance Infrastructure and CAF to manage the high-speed standard gauge trains on this track.

All the depots have an imported washing plant,train maintenance workshop,stabling lines and train inspection lines. The drive-through train-care system has high pressure jets,spinners,rollers,custom-angled brushes,roof and skirt wash combinations.

Trains pass at a speed of four to five kms per hour through the automatic wash plant during the maintenance period,which is roughly between midnight and 4 am. The operation period is three minutes.

Approximately 500 litres of water is required out of which 250 litres is recycled.