The daily Metro ride for Delhiites is all set to become more colourful. Soon, commuters will get to see electronic displays inside coaches, streaming videos, comfortable seats replacing the staple steel ones. That’s not all, the coaches may also display ads on the roof.

These are some of the design changes being introduced for customer satisfaction and improving the advertisement revenue potential by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in the next lot of coaches, which will join the current lot in ferrying about 27-28 lakh people every day, HS Anand, Director-Rolling Stock, DMRC, told BusinessLine .

Also, the next lot of standard gauge coaches will be a tad wider. Some more changes for customer satisfaction include lower noise level, faster acceleration, least resistance on friction braking. While the seats will be made of fibre-reinforced plastic material, the new coaches will also be more energy-efficient.

The 193-km Delhi Metro network has 1,282 coaches that are operational, with the supply of another 648 under process. Tenders for another 258 are also being finalised.

Vendors that have supplied coaches to Delhi Metro are consortia of Mitsubishi, Hyundai Rotem and Melco with BEML as a sub-contractor; Mitsubishi Corporation, Hyundai Rotem, Melco and BEML; BEML and Hyundai Rotem; apart from Bombardier, BEML, Alstom, supplying independently.

The rolling stock procurement for the ₹3,200 crore Delhi Metro has come a long way since 2001, when large parts had to be imported.

There has been 90 per cent indigenisation in terms of quantity. Of the 2,195 cars procured or under procurement, 90 per cent (1,975) have been manufactured in India. Besides complete shell manufacturing in the country, 18 major sub-systems going into the car are also being manufactured here. While multinationals such as Bombardier and Alstom have set up coach manufacturing units in the country, BEML, a public sector unit, has also developed capacity for in-house manufacturing.

Additionally, firms that offer sub-assembly services for Metro cars, such as Melco, Faiveley, Knorr Bremse, have also set up manufacturing units in the country. Over the past 12 years, broadly, the pricing per coach has seen a 38 per cent jump, including a 27 per cent depreciation of the rupee against dollar, and excluding inflation. However, there cannot be a like-to-like comparison, since the later versions of these coaches come with more features, and are more efficient.

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