GHAZIABAD: People travelling on the newly opened Dilshad Garden-Shaheed Sthal (New Bus Adda) metro route have complained that trains are not operating according to the scheduled frequency. There are also complaints that some trains, which originate from Rithala, are being terminated at Dilshad Garden, instead of Shaheed Sthal.The Ghaziabad Development Authority ( GDA ) has taken cognisance of the complaints and according to chief engineer V N Singh, they will write to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation DMRC ) seeking clarification.Meanwhile, the DMRC has claimed that depending on ridership, trains are available at peak hour frequency, which is 6 minutes 12 seconds. Regarding operations on the route, he said it is the prerogative of the DMRC and the GDA has no say in the matter.Ratnesh Kumar, from Sihany Gate area, who uses the route regularly to reach his workplace at Shahdara, said: “Metro frequency is not that good in late hours. On more than one occasion, I had to wait for longer than expected. Once I expected that from Shahdara station, where I board the train almost everyday, the metro will take me directly to Shaheed Sthal. But it terminated at Dilshad Garden. I had to take an auto from the station to reach my destination,” he added.“There have been complaints that trains in this section are not operating at the desired frequency. As a result, commuters are waiting longer,” said Singh. “There are also complaints that old trains are being operated on this section even though the DMRC was supposed to provide new coaches, as the corporation has contributed Rs 272 crore in form of rolling stock. With regards to all these complaints, we will be writing to the DMRC for clarity,’ he added.In a statement, the DMRC has said: “Regarding frequency on new section,…it is clarified that DMRC is providing the peak hour frequency on the section as communicated earlier... In early morning or late night hours or off peak hours, frequency is bound to be lower than the peak hours as it involves gradual induction and withdrawal of trains to mainline from depot(s) and vice versa.” On the issue of old coaches, the statement says, “DMRC is running train time table with 35 trains on weekdays on entire Red Line keeping 4 trains as standby or to meet maintenance requirement. So, it is totally irrational to say that DMRC is running old or new trains on new section.”

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