NEW DELHI: The vicinity of Delhi Metro stations isn’t too safe for people. According to WRI India, 525 people died due to road accidents near Metro stations in the capital in 2020-2021. Its report analysed incidents occurring within a 500-metre radius, considered a walkable distance for first- and last-mile connectivity, of 188 metro stations in Delhi. Pedestrians and cyclists constituted 46% of the fatalities in these crashes.TimesviewE very life counts. The high percentage of fatal accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists close to Metro stations requires a more specific and detailed study. The causes must be established and ways to prevent them worked out and implemented.While research organisation WRI emphasised the need to make the approach to Metro stations safer and more comfortable for people, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said it must be appreciated that the metro train company operates on a mammoth network spanning 391km and 286 stations in Delhi-NCR. “It is natural that many roads in the city may have a Metro station around 500 metres or so from it. Attributing all these accident casualties to the issue of Metro station access might not, therefore, be appropriate,” said a DMRC official.According to WRI, 66.6% of those who lost their lives near the Metro stations were in the working age of 18-60 years. Pitampura, Dhansa Bus Stand, Punjab Bagh West, Peeragarhi and SMB Moti Bagh were among the 25 Metro stations that reported more than five fatalities in 2020-21.Advait Jani, senior programme manager (integrated transport), WRI India, said, “Not providing safer access to Metro stations can affect its ridership as is evident in many other Indian cities. He added that Delhi had the most robust Metro network among all cities in the country and providing safer and comfortable access through correct design interventions on streets could help reduce the number of accidents near metro stations and also boost ridership.A high number of pedestrian fatalities near metro stations occurred between 10pm and 1am. The possible reasons for this could be the lifting of no-entry restrictions for commercial vehicles after 10pm, speeding at night and the closure of medians that results in unsafe at-grade crossing at night, said WRI.DMRC has taken up Multi-Modal Integration at over 90 metro stations for better accessibility and integration with the other modes of travel. A DMRC official said the roads outside the metro stations did not fall in DMRC’s purview, but the company regularly coordinated with the authorities concerned to ensure smooth and safe access to the stations.Anuj Dayal, principal executive director, corporate communications, DMRC, said, “We would like to point out that a study by Central Road Research Institute says DMRC’s services helped in the reduction of 125 fatal accidents in 2014. The number of accidents reduced in 2014 was 937. Delhi Metro’s network and its ridership have almost doubled since 2014, and, therefore, we can safely assume that today, the train service must be helping reduce more fatal accidents.”
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/525-died-in-the-vicinity-of-metro-stations-report/articleshow/96948561.cms