Metro Rail brought ethnographic transformation in India’s national capital: DMRC in China

NEW DELHI: The Metro Rail not only changed the way the people travel in India’s capital city and its satellite towns, but it also caused phenomenal ethnographic transformation here.

The city underwent a revolution with the advent of Metro rail service, as it changed people’ thought process towards using the public transport system, instilled national pride in them, brought in traveling etiquettes, social inclusiveness, and changed the culture and the behavioral patterns besides empowering women passengers and aiding city’s overall growth.

The case study of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was taken up during the 4th Asian Evaluation Week 2019 held in Kunming, China on September 2-6. Anuj Dayal, the executive director, DMRC presented the paper titled ‘Delhi Metro and the ethnographic transformation of India’s national capital’.

Launched in 2016, the Asian Evaluation Week (AEW) is a leading evaluation knowledge-sharing event in the Asia and Pacific region happening every year. It is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Finance, PRC and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The speakers during the AEW 2019 also came from Asian Development Bank, JICA, World Bank, Seoul National University, Korea, Partnership for Transparency Fund of UNICEF, Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), German Institute for Development Evaluation (D-EVAL), Asia Pacific Evaluation Association (APEA), Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and many more prestigious organisations.

In his presentation, the DMRC’s corporate communication chief said that Delhi Metro not only did set an example of sorts by meeting the completion targets on civil, engineering and commissioning front well before the scheduled time, it also introduced to India the Metro Man Dr. E Sreedharan who led the DMRC operations for a considerable time period.

“DMRC not only brought in the best technologies available at that time but also executed the project through a team of experienced consultants, which comprised of reputed engineers from all over the world. Various reputed companies from the world over including leading Japanese companies – Japan Railway Technical Services and Tonichi Engineering Consultants sent their best engineers to form this consortium of consultants,” said Dayal in the Paper.

DMRC, however, duly acknowledged the relentless contribution of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), that provided the DMRC uninterrupted funding.

While referring to the title of the Paper “Delhi Metro and the ethnographic transformation of India’s national capital”, Dayal readout that Delhi Metro brought in a change in the basic behavioral pattern of the people of Delhi and its peripheries. It also emerged as a symbol of the great potential of the country as a whole and instilled a sense of confidence in its people.

The DMRC Paper stated the Delhi Metro through many campaigns drove home the point that the Metro was the property of the people and they had to preserve it.

The best technologies available worldwide were adopted by DMRC as a result of which the Delhi Metro was among the most advanced mass transit systems worldwide. For the first time, people in Delhi felt that their city could also have a system as swanky and advanced as the Delhi Metro. This sense of pride also manifested in the multiple journeys the nation’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook along with heads of states of other countries. The premises of Delhi Metro were liberally used to promote the nation’s rich culture and heritage which also helped in instilling a great sense of pride among its people.

This sense of pride also instilled a great deal of discipline among the people which was unseen in other facets of social life in the country. The Metro trains and stations are spanking clean and the passengers cooperate in maintaining the cleanliness. They maintain discipline in boarding and de-boarding and maintain a quiet ambiance during travel.

In India, the mode of travel of an individual was often an indicator of his financial status. While the common man traveled by public transport, the more privileged used private vehicles. Even now, there is a sense of pride associated with owning a car. However, the Metro substantially altered these social classifications. Its plush interiors and competent services ensured that people of all strata used the service. Today, the CEO of a company and a daily wage laborer can be seen traveling together by the Metro. Such inclusiveness had never been achieved by any other mode of transport across the city.

The DMRC Paper also mentioned how the Delhi Metro proved as an engine of growth for the entire NCR and helped in empowering the women passengers. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has also sensitized the society making it more sensitive towards the environment.

Another factor that DMRC brought in was construction discipline. It initiated various stringent measures such as mandatory safety equipment, site barricading, deployment of traffic marshals, which were unheard of earlier.

Other direct benefits of Delhi metro included it lets about 3,90,971 vehicles off the road daily, annual reduction in fuel consumption (tons) has been recorded at 276,000, annual reduction in pollution (tons) at 577,148, saving in time per trip (minutes) at 32, annual reduction in fatal accidents  at 125 and annual reduction in all accidents  at 937.