Photo Gallery of Delhi metro and Metro Musuem

Pictures from the year 2008

When I heard the news that Delhi metro Corporation Limited opened a musuem dedicated to the success of Delhi Metro, I was surprised. Does Delhi metro really require a museum. I later realized and asked myself, "Why not?". Isn't it great that our country has an infrastructure that is making not just SE Asia envious, but also London? Isn't it great that Delhi metro is being executed with such dedication that perhaps no infrastructural project in our country ever (since 1947) has witnessed.

Delhi Metro is changing the lives of Delhites. The Chawri Bazaar station is a breakthrough. It is the 2nd deepest METRO station in the world. By 2010, it will be the 3rd largest in Asia. The fares are the cheapest in the world. Most of its coaches are being built in Baroda (Gujarat).

Delhi metro has also been awarded ENERGY CONSERVATION AWARD FOR UTILIZING MINIMUM ENERGY TO RUN ITS OPERATIONS

This picture is of Chawri bazaar station. Don't worry about the outside. One should go inside the station. It is extremely clean.

Delhi metro has now got a dedicated bomb disposal and diffusal squad, 24*7 call center, centralized operating center, a dedicated office, new rules just for Delhi metro managers to collect spot fine for any violation/mess. So, far cleanliness has been upto the mark and whenever there has been news of bad maintenance, swift action has been taken.

DMRC has learnt to change and rectify people's complainsts. Here is the series of media news that shows how DMRC has been very effective.

The above headline was made after complaints were received of people overcrowding and not following simple queue formations and easily slipping onto the tracks. Now, steel girdles have been put in such a way that doors open only between the gaps. This eliminates people slipping onto tracks to a very good extent. Simple queue formations are not practised by a vast majority of us. However, on receiving complaints, DMRC sent special squads to help do this (Sometimes, I wonder why we need someone to teach us basic things!!)








Later, Metro began to collect fines on the spot and no one can complain. The managers have been complete rights to collect fines.

So, here are the pics of Metro musuem opened in late 2008.



Photo courtesy: google, skyscraper.com, timesofindia and hindu

Delhi metro now connects North and East Delhi

Delhi Metro which is creating headlines everyday in India is not only a success, but also an inspirational story. The single most important reason is that it is being executed with extreme dedication and well ahead of proposed deadline. In fact, the completion of Phase - 1 in 2005 was itself a miracle because it was supposed to be opened by 2008.

After connecting South and central Delhi, Metro now has connected North and East. The East line extending upto Dilshad garden (border of Delhi) was opened last year. Now, today the North line to jehangapuri which passes through Kingsway camp, vishwavidyalaya and other stations was open to public. This is enormously going to help students of the university and the surounding areas. This line was opened 10 months well before the deadline while the eastern one was done 6 months before the deadline. WHAT A PACE!!!

This is what Times of India article quotes,

"The 6.36 km long extension will ferry over 1.51 lakh commuters by 2011 and will add five more stations to the existing Line 2 from Central Secretariat to Vishwavidyalaya. The line runs underground till the next station at GTB Nagar, after which the rest of it is elevated. For better crowd management, the entries and exits to all stations will be uni-directional, which means one staircase will be reserved for people to enter while another on the same side for those exiting.

What sets the elevated stations of this new extension apart from other Metro stations in the city is that they are all "hanging'' from the sides of the bridge. The stations have been designed such that they are all 24-metres wide. Of this, nine metres is a full structure that stands tall in the middleof the road, on the central verge and from the ground level itself. On the upper levels, the station building extends about 7.5 metres from each side, with no pillars connecting to the ground. So, when it is seen from the road, it appears like the sides of the building are hanging from the central structure. The changed design leaves scope for widening the road in future as well.

With opening of this extension on the Vishwavidyalaya side and those to Badarpur and Gurgaon from the Central Secretariat side, Line 2 will become the longest line on the Metro. Also, DMRC has plans to extend this line further from Jehangirpuri to Badli."







The pace at which Delhi metro is being aggressively executed is faster than that of Shanghai or any world metro project. As of now, everyday Delhi metro crowd is 8 lakh. Here is a picture comparing Delhi Metro with all other major metros of the world.

If you observe the chart carefully, Mumbai has 61 lakh at any given day using the old local trains, while other major cities have 6 or lakh people. Going by area wise, Hong Kong has 211 km. As of now, Delhi is 75 km. By 2010, it will be 200 km. By 2020, it will be 400 km - largest in the world.

By 2010, Delhi metro aims to cover Haryana, borders of UP etc. And for sure, it will be done well before 2010 just going by the track record.

Exit sign boards and toll sign boards on Indian expressways/highways

People who have travelled outside India to USA, Canada, European countries, China, Japan would have seen huge exit boards indicating where which exit will take the driver. In India, it was unimaginable until Golden Quadrilateral became a reality. Today, I post some of these pics showing exit boards on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and Delhi-Noida expressway. Enjoy the sign boards. Also, watch out for bright LED display boards for Smart Tag users to get automatic toll deductions from devices, like SUNPASS in Florida, USA.

One could not have imagined before Golden Quadrilateral, sign boards of the ones below would be visible on Indian roads, esp the part wherein distances are displayed in kilometers and that too in 1000's . Observe the images carefully: (All photos from skyscraper.com)

Updates on expressways and new highways

Ambala Chandigarh expressway

Exactly a decade ago, going from Ambala to Chandigarh was a nightmare. This was because the road was just single lane and there was no divider in between. The single lane coupled with very high traffic made driving a hell. The common news was an accident every day. For more, read this news article.



The expressway was handed over to GMR Group in early 2006. In Dec 2008, the expressway was inaugurated. IT IS of course signal free. The most accident prone points were Zirakpur Traffic Point, the crossing near Dhillon factory, road divider point near the Dera Bassi Police station and all T-points of roads leading to villages. The expressway is tolled road and is 4 laned with clear dividers, and there is a 12 lane toll plaza. Apart from these, all traffic points have flyovers which will avoid traffic congestion on a single road. Now, this 35 km stretch is much easy to cover and can be done in 30 minutes.

Delhi-Panipat 6 lane expressway (built by L&T)




Beautiful roads on Karnataka Maharashtra border (part of Golden Quadrilateral)








Photos courtesy: skyscraper.com

The unending drama by Pakistan

If anybody is carefully watching the drama enacted by Pakistan, one would say that Pakistan has emerged as the best actor on the world stage. This drama by Pakistan -that of denial of everything that happened in Mumbai is far worse than Ekta Kapoor serial plots. At least in Ekta's serials, one can easily predict what the drama is and where the story is going to go. In case of Pakistan, it's the same story and has become predictable over the years, but there is no twist which is the highpoint of Ekta's serials.

Just observe the events. One day Pakistan says that people who committed the Mumbai carnage were "non-state" actors. Then they admit that Kasab is a "Pakistani". Then the PM of Pakistan denies this charge, but the National Security Advisor is sacked for his comments on Kasab. Pakistan says it can't hand over the terrorists as they don't have any extradition treaty with India. The next day they say they don't have any terrorists but it is itself being targetted by some external people. This claim is the most illogical, non sensical one I have ever heard. One day they say they have received evidence from India. The other day officials deny they ever received one. Our country is seen very lightly by them. This is the same country whose PM once called the Indian delegation as "Hindu dogs". It is the same Bhutto who once said, "Pakistan will wage a 1000 year war with India to get Kashmir". So, despite this we should forgive and forget everything.

Now, I ask myself, this country, every reader of this article -" How long can we keep forgetting and forgiving Pakistan?". They infiltrated our country, attacked us thrice, launched guerilla warfares, caused bloodshed in Kashmir and many more. My problem is not with the people of Pakistan, but the army, ISI and the government which always has been anti-Indian. Pakistan never learns any lesson. It is the same Pakistan which traded with China and gave away some portion of our Kashmir to China. Yet, we forgave Pakistan and yet many Indians want to forgive Pakistan.

So, if Pakistan is weak, have Indian leaders been tough? All the greatest PM's starting from Nehru to Indira Gandhi and from Vajpayee to Manmohan Singh have been committing strategic blunders with respect to Pakistan. India occupied the territory which Pakistan invaded, but Nehru went on to call the UN. He followed the policy of autonomy to Kashmir. The country still needs an answer - "Why should KAshmir be treated differently from the other 27 states? Is it just because it has Muslim majority?" If India is indeed secular, why apply such a logic?

It was in 1965 when Lal Bahadur Shastri asked troops to occupy PoK and we occupied quite a lot of area such as Haji Pir and Tithwal areas. But on the negotiation table ,Shastri was forced to give up that land at Tashkent. In 1971 Indira Gandhi asked troops to occupy PoK again and over 5000 sqkm area was captured. Everyone thought Indira can never compromise. She did compromise and gave up the claim over that area. Then Mr. Vajpayee. He too failed this country by not asking the army to cross LoC. There is unanimous agreement across all political parties that PoK is an illegal area occupied by Pakistan and it has to be given to India. Why not take that step which is right for us?

I ask the Indian media, people and politicians - why do you have to call 26/11 as India' s 9/11. Are the Mumbai train bombings of 2006, Mumbai blasts of 1993 not as tragic as 9/11? How can we as people be so forgiving in nature? It is too much to forgive people who are not fit to be forgiven. Is Indian life so cheap that someone can come and take it and we still want peace? We still should pursue the weak policy of peace. Forget these incidents, can you forget 1947, 1965, 1971, 1989, the burning of charare-mosque of Kashmir, brutal killings of Sikhs in 1999-2000. Should we keep forgetting all these and always think of peace?

The Indian government of today led by Manmohan Singh has put India to shame by sharing and handing over evidence to Pakistan. Pakistan will see the evidence, pick out the clues and have them recorded/stored so that they don't repeat these mistakes the next time they attack us. It indirectly means that handing over of the evidence is going to make them even better planners the next time so that they don't leave any clues.

Read this interesting article by a former diplomat, G. Parthasarthy (who was also Indian Ambassador to Pakistan who saw Dawook Ibrahim in Pakistan).

So, what are India's next options? According to me, India must cut off water supply to them, violate all water treaties, stop all trade, stop exporting anything to Pakistan, strip Pakistan of its "Most favoured nation" status, build up pressure on US to ask Pakistan to hand over terrorists )Pak has a treaty with US) to them so that India can get them via the extradition treaty India has with US (Will US do this? No way), revoke cultural and sports ties, stop the existing confidence building measures.

Will Pakistan ever learn from all these steps? No.

How India must be showcased in EPCOT

This is how I imagine India stall in EPCOT must be showcased: More can be added later. Suggestions/comments welcome.

At the entrance, there will be Asoka pillar with our emblem on top of it. Also, quotes about India by various past and present great celebrities will be put up. The building will have a gopuram, mosque dome, gurduwara dome and church tower. On either sides would be Mahavira and Buddha. As soon as you enter you will see pictures of Harappan cities. Then the Vedic age photos/archaeological remains. Then some interesting inventions and discoveries of Gupta Age, Mauryan age and how Alexander was defeated by Indians will be shown. Our progress in science and technology even before Greeks and Romans would be on display. Then, the invasion of Muslim rulers, the structures they built will be shown. The Indian empire which extended from Iran till Java will be shown in terms of maps.

Then the last part would be the display/showcase of British India. In between, videos of cave paintings of Ajanta, Ellors, Badami etc and the majestic temples of TamilNadu and Karnatka will be continuously played.

There will be a section called Indian life. There the first thing that will be on display is a board showing "WELCOME TO INDIA" and this will be written in 16 different main languages. Then you will see dolls with different costumes put on it (Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, telugu, Tamil etc). Like the Chinese one has a showcase of 500/1000 small warrior idols, we can have small dolls with those costumes. The various dances will be displayed in pictures. For this, pictures of popular celebrity depicting each type of dance will be put up.

In the food section, you will have sweets (Rasgulla, Jamoon, jalebi, Mysore Pak, Obattu, Kheer, etc), Namkeen (from all parts), Idli, dosa, Roti, Baingan Bartha, Sarson Ka Saag and many more delicacies will be offered.

In the store/shopping section, you will have sarees, chudidars, kurtas, different spices, handicrafts, emboridery dresses, jewellery etc will be shown (like the Chinese section has it today).

The 360 degree film will be a direct copy of Indian history which is showcased in Delhi's Akshardham.

Then there will be a "PRESENT" section where Indian achievements since Independence will be showcased. Our breakthroughs in biotechnology, IT, thorium research, defence, science and technology will be on display. Our military, navy capabilities will be shown. The success of Bollywood industry will also be on display with various celebrities talking about India. Also, will show how home grown software companies are changing lives of rural India especially the success of e-Choupal will be shown. Golden Quadrilateral roads will be shown in terms of videos/photos etc. Our growing automobile industry showcasing Nano and our textile industry will be displayed either as a photo album or a video on a screen. Also, the world class Delhi Metro which even London wants to replicate will be shown.

Last section, will be "FUTURE" showing how India is poised to grow at an extremely good rate and the undying enterprenral spirit which is far better than China will be shown in terms of number of Indians successful in billionaries list (both in India and abroad)