Train to Karol Bagh
The Delhi metro is insanely great. A much slicker system than New York’s or London’s, it has wider and taller cars and the benefit of a century of design improvements. I’m thinking back to the other metros I’ve been on — Boston, Barcelona, Paris, though not yet Tokyo, Seoul or Taipei — and excluding special trains like the Heathrow Express, this is probably the nicest I’ve seen.
The third rail is routed overhead for safety. The system supports smart cards for frequent riders, but for occasional use it uses programmable plastic tokens. These light blue tokens hold variable fares depending on destination. You swipe them on entry and deposit them in a slot on exit. The exit check deters gate-jumpers and eliminates the litter and waste of discarded fare cards.
One of the strangest things about India to me is the six-day workweek — you get no tech startup martyrdom for working Saturdays. I took several trips around Saturday evening rush hour, in the central part of the city, and the token line was never more than two minutes long, six people deep. The mandatory metal detector and pat-down also created no delays.
The granite-faced stations have escalators with uplit rails. There’s a long, flat lead-in at the bottom of the escalators for aunties unfamiliar with the concept. The stations are spic ‘n span. The rails are mounted on flat concrete blocks rather than railroad ties for easy vacuum car cleaning. They are off-white and they gleam, devoid of wrappers and paan stains. The mice are tiny, not cat-sized. New York trains run more frequently, and the doors close faster; Delhiites still stampede aboard for seats as if on a Bombay local. But Delhi’s system is like a posher D.C. metro or Bay Area BART.
When you enter the train, electronic signs in Hindi and English scroll your destinations. The recorded announcements are quite funny, with a plummy British (not posh Indian English) accent, except for the station names. The carriages are almost double the length of a New York subway carriage, and the train is floor-through — you can see its entire length without separation.
I rode the train from Rajiv Chowk, a.k.a. Connaught Place, to Karol Bagh. The tiled wall decorations at one stop are of an Indian prince on a steed, a cute translation of NYC subway tiles to the Indian context. The rest of the system is clearly modeled on the London tube, with signs announcing the time to the next train and station signs with red circles and blue text on a white background, sans only Gill Sans. New stations are being built out quickly, with west and south Delhi coming online within a year or two.
Between Jhandewalan and Karol Bagh stations, in that magical evening light, you glide over Delhi as if over some faraway land. The system is quiet, with none of that hellish metal-on-metal squeal. A Sikh kid sits in Yankees cap and Snoop Dogg face. At just ten rupees a trip, blue-collar workers abound, looking slightly stunned at not being stuck in traffic. On the right you see water towers and high-rise apartments. On the left, the track passes by a giant orange Hanuman statue clad in bamboo scaffolding. You get off at an elevated station and take the concrete steps — more modern, less rickety than, say, the J train in Williamsburg — down to the street, dodge buses and are immediately at the head of Karol Bagh’s main shopping drag.
Besides fancy Indian formalwear and the most amazing dry fruits store, a masala Diagon Alley with potions I’ve never even heard of, the strip is your basic upscale market. As I sat there nursing a chai, I kept seeing parents and their children with identical features: the same hair, the same duck lips, the same droopy eyes, the same Punjabi noses. After seven of these pairs, it became a comical sight.
on Monday, February 19th, 2007, 12:22 pm in Travel › 
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Yes, the metro is fantastic, especially after you take a riskshaw ride through old Delhi in the evening. I was there in November ‘06 and took the metro from Connaught Place to old Delhi several times. The first time I tried the metro, I made a fool of myself when I couldn’t figure out how those tokens worked. The policemen near the metal detectors helped me out. Once the network expands it will be even better.
My only complaint about the system is that they don’t allow big bags in the station. That’s why you can’t take the metro from CP to, say, the railway station, or the airport (when that line is completed). I think they have limited the bag size for security reasons.
Thanks for the report, Manish. It has been a while since I used Delhi public transport (green DTC buses, pre red/blue-line) and it seems like much has improved. Also, “Rajiv Chowk”, eh? Just this weekend I was wondering when they’d get around to renaming Connaught Place and didn’t realize it had already happened.
Interesting, Indians metro system as good as it is here in USor even better..I heard pink express train from Delhi to Jaipur is great..I hope to travel on train from Delhi to Rajastan some time..they say its a very unique experience and also trains going to simla from Delhi…
If u didnot try it , try kullad vali chai in north Indian trains Manish…I love the kullad vali chai u get in train stations in North India,speciallytrains from Delhi, benaras ( tea served in baked earthern cups)..the smell of wetearth and elachi make the kullad vali chai very tasty.
Fun post. Last time i went home (almost three years ago) Metro had just started off full-fledged…..i missed it. am glad its doing good.
Hmm, the six days workweek :). Well, officially Saturday is off! It was declared so during Rajiv Gandhi’s time…..Colleges and Govt. offices are closed on Saturdays-but most private sector places and educational institutions (both private sector and higher education Public sector institutes like AIIMS, IITs, TIFR, NCBS, CCMB, IISc etc. atleast the academic community)-work on Saturdays. its actually good that way :). A way to enhance productivity…..
:).
Dilli…..and Dilli ki buses :). Have your tried taking the Blue Line and DTC ;). You should, if possible-its quite an experience. The crowd is diverse and the its quite a struggle to move from one end of the bus to the other. Delhi also has a culture of chartered-buses for regular commute to offices. There used to be (am not sure if it still exists) this silly practice of “staff-chalana”-so the students would board the bus and refuse to buy ticket saying “staff hai”…..and there was a heirarchy as to which College/crowd could get away with it!! Very strange practice and at time scary too because it often led to fights between the conductor and students…..it used to be very common in the ’90s when i attended College and University. Any idea if it still exists.
Ena - The airport line _will_ allow big bags. It is actually going to take its cue from the Hong Kong MTRC - which allows people to check in their bags at the Metro station itself. I think the Aiport line is going to run express from CP, with only 1/2 stops along the way.
Sakumar, The Rajiv Chowk renaming took place close to 8 years ago, when Congress seized power from the BJP in Delhi. Luckily, the obstinacy of Delhi-ites to follow any kind of official order means nobody knows of this. Go Delhi!
Rajiv Chowk it might be..but only on a few signboards on the roads. I never heard anyone say..”let’s hangout at rajiv chowk”, or “once you reach indira chowk, turn right to get to rajiv chowk and i will meet you outside palika!”.
Ha…if they had their way they would name all roads Rajiv/Indira. and now Sonia.