With 14 escalators and counting, the New Delhi railway station is getting rid of its staircases and now has more than one escalator at all its platforms, apart from entry and exit points.
By December this year, railway authorities are expecting elevators to come up at each platform also, making the railway station almost 'staircase free'.
In fact, one foot-over-bridge at the station, which is to the extreme left of the station building if you are approaching from the Ajmeri Gate side, has been installed with escalators to reach every platform.
Easy on the knees
“We are aiming to not only have escalators to reach each of the 16 platforms of the station, but to also have at least one elevator at each platform,” Arun Arora, Divisional Railway Manager, Delhi, told The Hindu .
Mr. Arora said that the work for installation of elevators, which will be a first for any railway station in Delhi-NCR, is at an advanced stage:
“By December 2016, we will start commissioning elevators at the station.”
Safety first
The Delhi division of the Northern Railways is trying to follow the Delhi Metro model of operating escalators and elevators at its stations, said sources.
“We also plan to add a sari guard and bristles on both sides to protect the clothing of users from getting caught in the moving parts,” said an official, who didn't wish to be named.
Mr. Arora said that when escalators were installed initially at the New Delhi and Delhi Main railway stations, malfunctioning of the machines were a recurring problem, largely because some passengers used to press the emergency button, which made the escalators stop. “The escalators are functioning very smoothly now and also because maximum number of these are only a year old,” Mr. Arora said.
Passengers will be able to use the escalators to reach all the 16 platforms; elevators coming soon
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