... I've been known to walk nearly 14 miles in one day in New York because I didn't want to use the subway or similar distances in Barcelona and Paris. So I'm not a big fan of these systems. I'm partly too intimidated by not having a clue how things work.
However, despite that, I loved the ... Read review
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Advantages: New, clean, fast and cheap Disadvantages: Not always easy to know where it is or where it goes
...and I'm talking about the new Delhi Metro or 'Mass Rail Transport System'. But before I tell you about the system itself, let's look at why it was needed.
Why did Delhi need a metro?
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Pollution - locals used to say that breathing in Delhi was like smoking 20 fags a day. The air was so thick with dirty diesel fumes that if, at the end of the day you blew your nose and had a little peek in ... ...streets and replacing them with new yellow and green ones that run exclusively on compressed natural gas or CNG. Buses were also switched to CNG and private drivers are being urged to consider this alternative fuel as well. Today the effect on air quality has been remarkable. In addition to the CNG switch, use of the metro system has taken many buses and thousands of cars off the streets and further reduced the air pollution.
I'll give you two words - please read them, then close your eyes and form a mental picture. Got that? Good.
The two words are:
INDIA and TRAINSNow take a couple of seconds and imagine!
I'm willing to hazard a guess that most of you got a picture in your mind of one of the old empire steam trains, a big black one perhaps with smoke billowing out of the chimney and masses of people riding on the roof and hanging off the side. You are maybe thinking of a carriage with hard benches, stuffed to the gills with people, luggage and animals.
Or if you've been to India and travelled by train you are probably invoking a sensory overload. You could be imagining the sight of a chaotic and jam-packed railway station; the sound of the refreshment hawkers and the fierce ceiling fans; the smell of hundreds of spicy packed lunches and the feet of all your fellow passengers. Was I close?
So now if I say 'state of the art metropolitan transport system that's clean, cheap, cool and should be the envy of the world' you might be confused.
But this is Delhi and I'm talking about the new Delhi Metro or 'Mass Rail Transport System'. But before I tell you about the system itself, let's look at why it was needed.
Why did Delhi need a metro? ***************************** Pollution - locals used to say that breathing in Delhi was like smoking 20 fags a day. The air was so thick with dirty diesel fumes that if, at the end of the day you blew your nose and had a little peek in your hanky, the bogies were black (oh please, don't pretend you don't have a look). The government took the bold step of taking all the old tuk-tuks off the streets and replacing them with new yellow and green ones that run exclusively on compressed natural gas or CNG. Buses were also switched to CNG and private drivers are being urged to consider this alternative fuel as well. Today the effect on air quality has been remarkable. In addition to the CNG switch, use of the metro system has taken many buses and thousands of cars off the streets and further reduced the air pollution.
Congestion - Delhi is India's capital city and a hub for business. Business runs smoother when you stand a hope in hell of getting to a meeting on time and in something faster than a geological timescale. All of that's a lot more likely if you don't have to battle with congestion. Using the metro enables travellers to avoid the street congestion and takes even more cars off the streets. I'm not saying that congestion is 'solved' but it certainly seems to have been reduced.
Commonwealth Games 2010 - personally I believe that pride and national vanity was probably used as a justification for the metro. In less than four years time the eyes of the Commonwealth will be on Delhi for the Commonwealth Games - that four-yearly jamboree when the host nations show the old 'Imperial Masters' and the other ex-colonies just how well they've done since kicking out the Brits. Just as Manchester got a good sprucing up, no country or city wants to look 'backward' or play up to other countries' preconceived ideas and prejudices about the place.
I predict by the time the games come round Delhi the entire city will smell of fresh paint and will have been completely 'sanitised' - even the cows in the streets will be wearing bows and getting their hooves pedicured. It's going to be very splendid and I'm really hoping to get over for the games.
Where can I get to with the Metro? ***************************** The first thing that it's important to know is that the Metro is there for the people of Delhi - it's not designed primarily for tourists. So it goes where Delhi-ites want to go rather than to the museums and monuments of the tourist trail. And it uses the modern post-colonial place names that are sometimes hard to remember. The Metro won't take you everywhere you want to go and you may find it hard to work out where it does go. However, the two key interchange points - Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) and Kashmir Gate (Old Delhi) are key sites that tourists may want to use.
There are three lines at the moment - the red and blue lines travel roughly east to west and the yellow line goes north to south. Rajiv Chowk (more commonly known as Connaught Place or CP) is the interchange of the Blue and Yellow lines and is a key shopping and restaurant location. Kashmir Gate (Old Delhi) is the interchange for the Red and Yellow lines. For a detailed route map, see www.delhimetrorail.com.
I recommend checking out the map and printing a copy before you go because I found it quite difficult to track one down when I arrived in Delhi. I actually bought a city guide with a picture of a metro train on the cover and no route map inside.
The blue line runs from Dwarka in the west to Indraprastha in the east, is the southerly of the two east west lines and is 29 km in length. Travelling from one end to the other should take just under an hour. I believe that the western end is somewhere close to the international airport but as I haven't gone out that far, I can't swear on that. If it doesn't make it to the airport at the moment, I'm sure that the future phases of building will reach the airport before the Games.
The red line runs from Rithala in the west to Shadara in the East. It's 23 km long and takes about 40 mins from one end to the other.
The yellow line is the shortest and runs from the Central Secretariat in the south to Vishwavidyalaya in the north. It's just 11 kms long and takes less than 20 minutes.
The yellow line travels underground for most, if not all, of its length. The red and blue are mostly over-ground except either side of the interchange stations. I prefer the overground system because I like to look out of the windows (now how kiddie did that sound?).
Phase II of the building plans will extend each of the lines in the near future so if you are reading this review long after I've written it, the situation may well have changed so check out the Metro website for any uptdates.
There are apparently bus services that link in with some of the rail stations but I for one have never yet had to use public buses so I can't really offer any advice.
Maps ***** I have a Metro route map and a locally-bought guidebook that was published last year. Although it has lots of city maps sadly none of them identify the metro stops. I think this is because the metro is still so new. You won't museums and sights listed in guidebooks with any info on the nearest metro station so that's also tricky. I'm sure such maps will get printed soon but at the moment their absence means that it's very difficult to know where the metro stops are and whether they might be useful for getting to the places you are likely to want to visit.
What does it cost? *************** The Delhi Metro is cheap - exceptionally cheap. And because the prices are fixed, you are paying what the locals pay - not like when you take a taxi or a tuk-tuk and have to fight about the fare and suffer the unofficial 'tourist premium'. The longest journey will cost you no more than 22 rupees (approx. 25p) and the fares start at just 6 Rp (about 7p). Our journey from our hotel near Rajendra Place to Rajiv Chowk cost 9 Rp and took about 10 minutes. By contrast a tuk-tuk for two people would probably cost between 50 and 100 Rp and take about 25 minutes if the roads were fairly clear.
If you are going to live in Delhi and use the system a lot, you can buy a travel card and charge it up with 100, 200 or 500 rp of credit. You pay a refundable deposit of 100 rp for the card and buy extra credit as and when you need to. You can tell at any time how much credit you have by holding the card in front of the gate card reader.
Tourists can buy a one or three day travel card. These will cost 70 rp (approx. 85p) for one day or 210 rp for 3 days. Whilst less than a pound a day is peanuts, I am struggling to imagine how you could possibly use 70 rp worth of credit in a day. Maybe if you have a hotel way out at the end of the line and need to go back and forth to the centre twice in a day you might clock up enough miles to make it worthwhile but I would suggest to just pay as you go.
Children under a certain height (I think it's 130 cm) travel for free if accompanied by an adult.
So how does it work? ******************* 1.Find your station. They are marked out with red and white circular logo and the word 'Metro'. If you aren't sure, just stop a local and ask. Most of the stations are very easy to navigate but the hub station at Rajiv Chowk lies directly under the centre of Connaught Place and can be quite confusing. If you need to get to a particular destination on Connaught Place, check the letter of the 'block' it's in so you can find your way out of the station onto the right side of the Place. Or just walk round in circles until you find it.
2. Buy your token Unless you have a travel card, you have to line up at the ticket booth to buy your token. I thought this was crazy at first - surely they could manage to put in some ticket machines? Then I realised that the fares are very cheap and the availability of small denomination coins is relatively poor. Considering that all denominations of 10 Rp or above are only available as notes, you would need to have note readers. Next thing worth knowing is that Indian paper money gets very dirty, torn and ragged and would probably mess up a state of the art note reader in 3 seconds flat. Thus, despite the technology everywhere else, you can't beat the human ticket seller. Speak clearly and check that they charge you the right amount - there will be a fare chart at the ticket window. We were short charged by a single rupee per person, which meant we had to pay the difference at the destination
You will get a round plastic token - it will probably be blue but it might not. There are a few purply ones out there as well. It makes no difference and the colour doesn't mean anything. There's nothing on the token that identifies its value until you go to the turnstile.
3. Go through security (if present) At Rajiv Chowk they have security guards. OK, it's not like airport security, but you do go through a metal detector and the guards may decide that it would be amusing to have a look at what the strange tourists are carrying in their bags. However, these days, lets be glad that people do check bags because the alternatives aren't pleasant to think about (I'm writing this on the 7th of July so you know what I'm talking about). You are advised not to carry more than 15 kg of luggage - I doubt it's strictly enforced but it's not a bad idea to keep things light.
4. Go to the turnstile Hold your token against the detector. The screen will confirm how much you've paid and open the barrier. If it beeps or doesn't open, someone will rush over and mess about with it until it works.
5. Find the platform It's a good idea to know the name of the end of the line station. But if you are rubbish at remembering foreign names, just look pathetic and ask someone. In most stations you only have a choice of two platforms but at the interchanges it's a bit more tricky. Trains arrive every 4-6 minutes. They are gorgeous shiny silver trains that still look new and well cared for.
6. Get on the train When it arrives prepare to sharpen your elbows if you are at an interchange station. Delhi can build a state of the art metro but can't teach the inhabitants that it's a good idea to let the people who are ON the train get OFF before the new passengers try to get ON. The doors open for only 30 seconds and the users go potty with fear of being left behind.
7. Enjoy! We were in Delhi at the end of June. It was hot hot hot and ever so humid. The metro trains are fiercely air-conditioned. It's a bit like taking a journey in the chiller cabinets at your local supermarket. The carriages are spotlessly clean. You can't take food or drink on them and passengers are reminded not to litter, spit or do anything nasty.
8. Watch out for your stop The stops are announced in Hindi and English and if you don't hear the announcement, there are screens showing the next stop as well.
9. Get off and head for the exit At the exit you drop your token into the barrier and off you go. If you've not paid enough, go to the controller's office next to the barriers and pay up. No problems, no accusatory stares and you even get a receipt. It's an offence to take a token away with you so don't be tempted to buy a spare one as a souvenir.
When is the Metro Open? ********************* Trains run from 6 am to 10 pm although the last trains out of the interchange stations run slightly later.
What are the stations like? ********************* The stations are very well maintained and are a credit to the Delhi transport authorities. Yes you will see the odd red paan stains on the floor at the station entrances but in general once inside the stations are spotless. There are lots of bins and people are using them. You really get the sense that the people of Delhi are proud of their Metro and are going to look after it.
Do's and Don'ts (just a few taken from the official Metro rules) ************ Do's Do stand in the queue - well that's just NOT going to happen Limit your baggage size to 15 kgs Use Dustbins Abstain from drunken and unruly behaviour
Don'ts Don't bring pets inside Don't smoke Don't jump over the ticket barrier Don't try to open the doors forcible (my favourite) don't travel on the roof of the train - where else would that be an official rule with a mandatory fine.
My Verdict? *********** I don't like 'undergrounds'. I've been known to walk nearly 14 miles in one day in New York because I didn't want to use the subway or similar distances in Barcelona and Paris. So I'm not a big fan of these systems. I'm partly too intimidated by not having a clue how things work.
However, despite that, I loved the Delhi Metro. If it's going where you need to go - then hop on. It's a bargain. It's cool, fast, comfortable and safe and without doubt the best bargain in town.
Delhi hotels are ridiculously expensive for what they are - the Metro means that staying further out of the centre where the hotels may be cheaper is now a practical option.
So I'll give it a big THUMBS UP and urge you to give it a try next time you are in Delhi.
