Delhi Metro Research Articles

Analyzing the enablers to overcome the challenges in the adoption of electric vehicles in Delhi NCR

The major contributor to air pollution in the cities like Delhi is emissions from vehicles running on fossil fuels. Delhi has been listed as one of the highest air polluted cities. World Health Organization has also produced a similar report. The Indian economy is highly dependent on the import of fossil fuels. One of the best ways to address these issues may be the adoption of all types of Electric Vehicles (EVs). The benefits of electric mobility are numerous. Some of these advantages include better air quality, less reliance on fuel imports, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the enhanced plant load factor for the electrical grid, and the possibility to be a leader in a booming worldwide market. The government of India and the state governments have taken several initiatives to promote the use of EVs but the adoption of EVs is still very low. Thus, this study aims to identify the key enablers that the state government should build to encourage the adoption of EVs in Delhi. In this context, a focus group discussion composed of industry experts, practitioners, and policymakers has been used to get the opinion regarding the challenges in the adoption of EVs and enablers to overcome these challenges. Some major challenges in the adoption of EVs have been explored through the literature review and focus group discussion (FGD). To overcome these challenges, thirteen enablers for adopting EVs were identified through a literature review and FGD. Then, using the Total Interpretive Structural Modelling methodology (TISM), the mutual relationships amongst these identified enablers were evaluated and enablers with high driving power were determined. This study may help the governments and policymakers for the effective adoption of EVs in Delhi and other Metro cities.

Book review: Rashmi Sadana. 2022. The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure

Rashmi Sadana. 2022. The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. x + 252 pp. Figures, maps, notes, bibliography, index. $29.95 (eBook)

Post COVID-19 Access-Egress Attributes for Urban Metro Transit Users in Delhi

Abstract The BLUE line of Delhi Metro (DM) has been examined to identify the post COVID-19 access–egress attributes of users. An on-board survey of metro commuters is conducted in February and March 2021. The respondents reported six different modes for access and egress trips to nearest metro stations with 38.7% and 43% users opting for walking for access-egress trip respectively. The E-rickshaw is observed to be most preferred para-transit mode whereas private vehicle has small mode share for access-egress trip. It is revealed that 46.5% of respondents are captive riders whereas 51% owns at least one motorized private vehicle. The average access and egress distance covered by walking is (0.81+ 0.32/0.35) Km respectively. The average access and egress trip time by walking is (11.19+3.73) and (11.07+4.45) minutes respectively. The average access and egress trip time by E-rickshaw is (13.21+4.09) and (12.56+2.95) minutes respectively. The access and egress trip time by motorized modes are in the range of (12.36-14.39) and (10.41-13.56) minutes respectively. The average main haul distance across all access-egress modes is observed to be (19.69+11.19) Km. To understand the factors influencing the access–egress mode choice multinomial logistic (MNL) regression models are proposed. The access-egress time and distance are observed to be significant factors in access-egress mode choice. Less parking facility offered by DM is significant factor in access mode choice. Occasional commuters are only significant factor in context with frequency of travelling in DM.

Exploring determinants of feeder mode choice behavior using Artificial Neural Network: Evidences from Delhi metro

First and last mile connectivity are the most crucial elements of transit system. However, inadequate attention is given to such issues in developing countries like India. The present study aims to analyze feeder mode choice behavior of people accessing Delhi metro. Multinomial logit model and Artificial Neural Network are deployed to analyze the travel behavior. Findings suggest that ANNs are highly efficient in learning and recognizing connections between parameters for best prediction of an outcome. Since, utility of ANNs has been critically limited due to its ‘Black Box’ nature, the study involves the use of Garson’s algorithm and Partial Dependence Plots for model interpretation. Findings of the study can be useful for policy makers and transport planners for improving service quality of existing feeder services and, establishing efficient feeder system that promote the use of transit.

Study of laughter yoga and clapping exercise on cardiovascular functions and quality of life in patients suffering from chronic liver disease in west Delhi metro population

Study of laughter yoga and clapping exercise on cardiovascular functions and quality of life in patients suffering from chronic liver disease in west Delhi metro population

Anthropology at the Ends of the Lines

Anthropology at the Ends of the Lines

Seismic behaviour of Delhi metro tunnels in liquefiable deposits

Seismic behaviour of Delhi metro tunnels in liquefiable deposits

GIS and Gravity Model-Based Accessibility Measure for Delhi Metro

Metro is a rapid transit mode that helps in fast and efficient movement of the public. To make metro journey more convenient and attractive, from origin to destination, accessibility of metro must be good. In this study, tri-level analysis is carried out for the study area of Delhi. Traffic congestion and environmental condition of Delhi are degrading continuously, and to improve the situation, a sustainable Multi Modal Transport System (MMTS) with high accessibility must be explored. In this paper, policy to improve zone to zone metro accessibility for work purpose is discussed and the relation between multimodal transport system with accessibility is studied using GIS (ArcGIS), macrosimulation software (VISUM) and gravity model. It was observed that by the addition and extension of metro lines, transport accessibility is greatly improved. This study shows that percentage of zones in Delhi with higher accessibility level could increase from 5 to 13.88% with the implementation of phase IV of metro. In addition, the implementation of phase IV metro could reduce the average travel time between zones and metro stations. It will also reduce the travel time between metro stations substantially (for the zones covered in this study the average travel time is reduced by 23.63% and for the station covered in this study the average travel time is reduced by 17.73%). Further, it was found that ‘out vehicle travel time’ (OVTT) is having a major impact on the accessibility of metro. Lastly, it was concluded that with the higher level of metro accessibility, people will prefer the multimodal transport system with metro as the main mode. Travel time isochrones for public and private trips for the estimated MMTS model are also presented in this paper to depict the changes in accessibility for different scenarios. This will further help in improving private transport accessibility by reducing congestion on roads. Thus, planning for transport accessibility helps in developing the city in a sustainable manner in the future.

Timetable rationalization & Operational improvements by human intervention in an urban rail transit system: An exploratory study

The efficient scheduling of train running is fundamental to operational planning of train movement in the passenger-based transportation industry. The timetable determines the availability of transport services across time & space. It also indicates the need of supporting infrastructures like rolling stock, train control system, traction system, and manpower. The rationalization of the timetable may profoundly affect the efficiency of the operator by optimizing the need for supporting infrastructure. Timetable rationalization in an urban rail transit system is considered with the two aims, first is human intervention to meet up the rising passenger demand in form of ridership. Second is lowering the operational expenditure in terms of energy consumption during train operation. A data-based exploratory case study of Delhi Metro line-2 is used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach. This paper presents an overview of the initiatives adopted in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to ameliorate the train schedule and timetable by adopting innovative ways like matching supply with demand, real-time monitoring of demand for necessary intervention in the timetable of the day, coasting or energy-saving mode of operations in Automatic Train Operation, dwell time optimization, and interlacing of high-capacity trains during peak hours.

The effect of travel safety experience on passengers' satisfaction

The aim of the study is to ascertain the dimensions of safety experience of the female passengers in metro rail services provided by the Delhi metro rail in India. The impact of these dimensions on satisfaction is to be assessed. The female safety experience dimensions are obtained by performing an exploratory factor analysis. A structured instrument was used to collect responses from the female passengers. As output of the present research, nine dimensions viz. experience with other passengers, teasing experience, feeling towards metro rail, staff experience, outside metro station experience, compartment experience, behaviour experience, entry experience and recovery experience emerged as dimensions that lead to female passenger satisfaction as regards Delhi metro rail services. Further, out of these nine dimensions, five dimensions, namely, feeling towards metro rail, experience with other passengers, recovery experience and staff experience are found to be statistically significant.

Bridging the void: how institutional entrepreneurship can overcome institutional voids in Indian public organisations

There is limited research on the role of institutional entrepreneurship in public organisations, especially in the context of institutional voids. The public sector entrepreneurs' engagement with regulatory, normative, and cultural-cognitive institutional voids in a developing economy is, therefore, examined using institutional work. Through an in-depth longitudinal case study of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in India, institutional creation and disruption processes are identified as interrelated means to address voids in this context. The boundary work supported promising entrepreneurs in challenging settings, whereas legitimacy work helped to spread change outside organisational boundaries. Insights into public sector entrepreneurship in developing countries are offered.

Implications of a Twitter data-centred methodology for assessing commuters’ perceptions of the Delhi metro in India

Owing to the onset of the new media age, the idea of e-public participation has proven to be a great complement to the limitations of the conventional public participation approach. In this respect, location-based social networks (LBSN) data can prove to be a game shift in this digital era to offer an insight into the commuter perception of service delivery. The paper aims to investigate the potential of using Twitter data to assess commuters’ perceptions of the Delhi metro, India, by presenting a comprehensive methodology for extracting, processing, and interpreting the data. The study extracts Twitter data from the official handle of the Delhi metro, performs semantic and sentiment analysis to comprehend commuters’ concerns and assesses commuters’ sentiments on the predicted concerns. The paper outlines that the current depth of Twitter data is more inclined to instantaneous responses to grievances encountered. Moreover, the analysis presents that for the data extraction period, the topics ‘Ride Safety’ and ‘Crowding’ have the lowest scores, while ‘Personnel Attitude’ and ‘Customer Interface’ have the highest scores. Further, the paper highlights insights gleaned from Twitter data in addition to the aspects included in the conventional satisfaction survey. The paper concludes by outlining the opportunities and limitations of LBSN analytics for effective public transportation decision-making in India.

Assessment of Indoor-Outdoor Wi-Fi Radiation on Human Body and its Precise SAR Measurement

There has been a lot of awareness concern about the health hazards of RF electromagnetic radiation on the human body, the radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure assessment needs attention. This paper reports experimentally measured electromagnetic radiation emission from public place Wi-Fi devices. Indoor and outdoor measurements are done at different geographic locations in India. For the indoor assessment, the experiment was carried out in the national physical laboratory (NPL) New Delhi for 1-4 antennas Wi-Fi routers at a distance of 0-10-meter range are taken into consideration. The power density and electrical intensity were measured using a spectrum analyzer with isotropic E-field probe TSEMF-B1. For the outdoor measurements, four different Delhi metro stations Wi-fi devices at a distance of 20-meter range towards the train coach and below the Wi-fi routers have been considered. In this experiment, we used an instrument is Narda NBM-550 E-field probe for electric field and radiated power density estimation. In addition, the human whole body 3D model has been simulated in a free space environment, the measured outcome of indoor-outdoor electromagnetic radiation and specific absorption rate (SAR) is compared with the ICNIRP, FCC guideline limits at 2.45-5.87 GHz and precise SAR has been evaluated.

Why employee engagement matters? Evidences from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between organizational commitment (OC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as mediated by employee engagement (EE). The impact of different facets of OC (affective, continuance and normative) and EE (alignment, affectiveness and action-orientation) is examined with respect to OCB.Design/methodology/approachInsights from the literature underpin the hypotheses on how EE mediates the relationship between OC and OCB. Primary data using survey questionnaire were collected from 881 permanent employees of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in India. Hayes' model 4 has been used for the mediation analysis.FindingsThe analyses show that only one facet of OC- affective commitment and the alignment and action-orientation dimensions of EE positively affect OCB. The relationship between OC and OCB is fully mediated by EE.Practical implicationsThe results imply that engaging employees is pivotal for effectively fostering citizenship behavior among employees. Organizations should be willing to implement strategies and interventions which enhance the emotional experience of employees to foster a sense of belongingness with the organization and engage them.Originality/valueThe paper draws on a unique data set of a prestigious organization in India to provide insights with substantial degree of generalizability into the relationship between OC, OCB and EE, whilst applying a comprehensive definition of these constructs. It is the first study to examine the inter-relationship among different facets of these constructs.

Infrastructure of life: public address, listening and crowds in the Delhi metro and Kumbh

Through an ethnographic study of the Delhi metro and Kumbh fair, this article explores the public address system as an infrastructure of life in urban India. Amplified sound is the singular means to address crowds during emergencies which makes it significant for understanding mass mediation and public safety. Since millions of people travel in the Delhi metro every day, and the Kumbh fair is the largest human gathering in the world, human density and scale as a predominant Southern reality is the premise of this research. It offers an intersubjective understanding of crowds through empathy and care, and reveals the life-saving potentiality of infrastructures when the masses are at risk.

A Comprehensive Study on the RFID Technology of Delhi Metro Cards

A Comprehensive Study on the RFID Technology of Delhi Metro Cards

Establishing service quality interrelations for Metro rail transit: Does gender really matter?

The study on gender disparity in service quality (SQ) interrelations of public transit can provide gender-specific improvement measures to transit officials in attracting new passengers and increase patronage. In the presence of minimal knowledge basis on gender disparity in SQ interrelations, this study fills the gap by applying an integrated Bayesian Networks (BN) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) on perception data of 1504 male and 745 female passengers of Delhi Metro. The study findings reveal that males consider passenger ease, whereas females consider service availability as most influential factors in explaining overall SQ. Females are less concerned about passenger ease and seamless connectivity, as compared to males. Further, gender-based importance-performance analysis has highlighted that Delhi Metro must consider ‘safety and security’ as most crucial factor to improve its services. Overall, this study demonstrates the necessity of gender-specific strategic measures to help transit officials in allocating resources efficiently.

Learnings from select Indian public welfare programs to catalyze the implementation of India’s national actional plan on antimicrobial resistance

Antibiotics are an easy, rapid and quick replacement to improved care within fragmented health systems with poor access and infection control measures in many countries, including India. India announced its national action plan for antimicrobial resistance (NAP-AMR) 2017-2021 but has made limited progress. Successful public welfare programs (Delhi metro rail corporation DMRC, swachh bharat mission (SBM), beti bachao beti padao (B3P) and national green tribunal NGT) were reviewed that had addressed critical national concerns similar to AMR. Valuable lessons from their implementation provide the opportunity to improve the governance and operationalization of the NAP-AMR. Unique features of the four programs identified above include resilient leadership, multi-stakeholder coordination with oversight and accountability of partnerships, innovation in program design and implementation and data-driven real-time monitoring for sustained behavior change. Incorporating these strategies into the program design and implementation of India's NAP-AMR will reinvigorate the program to accelerate the achievement of program targets.

Modelling urban heat island (UHI) and thermal field variation and their relationship with land use indices over Delhi and Mumbai metro cities

Modelling urban heat island (UHI) and thermal field variation and their relationship with land use indices over Delhi and Mumbai metro cities

Working Women, Delhi Metro and Covid-19: A Case Study in Delhi-NCR.

Availability of safe, reliable and affordable public transport facilitates access to work opportunities. This relationship between transport and economic independence is not gender neutral. Delhi’s Metro Rail Network marked a milestone in this regard as it provided a gender-sensitive means of mass transit with specific facilities for women passengers. However, the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, followed by restrictions on mobility and change in working habits, brought the urban public transport network to a standstill. Given this background, the paper explores the impact of Metro Rail Network on the commuting pattern and preferences of working women in Delhi-NCR region as well as the travel-related challenges faced by women that were magnified during the pandemic.