RInfra plans to raise capacity of metro corridor

Reliance Infrastructure, which is executing the west-east Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro corridor project, plans to raise the carrying capacity of passengers on the corridor from seven lakh to 10 lakh per day. This was announced by Anil Ambani, Chairman of the firm during the company's 84th annual general meeting. The company set up entry and exit points at stations with staircases, lifts and escalators to cater to over 12 lakh commuters a day. The company hopes to serve over 12 lac passengers without any major inconvenience to the commuters in and outside the train. The company plans to run 16 trains of four coaches each and within six months of commissioning, it plans to add 44 more coaches into service. During peak hour, the company would operate metro trains at a frequency of 3.5 to 4 minutes initially. Now, the project system, including the signalling system, is designed to operate the trains with a headway of two minutes. For efficient crowd management during operations, the company carried out a detailed simulation. This enabled the firm to design the stations and demarcate the passenger flow areas. The stations are designed such that commuters can be evacuated within four minutes.