The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has started installing newly designed signage at its stations for the convenience of its 2.7 million commuters. As a pilot project, the new signage have first been installed at the Barakhamba and Pragati Maidan metro stations.
The new way finding system will have LED based backlight to illuminate symbols and words. All information boards will be in Hindi and English. Besides, the panels meant for directing riders to station platforms and towards entry/exit will have a deep blue background with white lettering, instead of deep blue lettering on a white background currently in use.
“Similar signage will also be installed at the stations under Phase 3. To begin with, two stations have been provided such signage and process is on to install these at 10 more stations of the existing network. Out of 10 stations, five will be elevated and five underground,” a metro official said.
The new signage are also more resilient in the face of rough handling. “These are better equipped to handle issues such as vandalism, tearing, writing on the body of the signage etc as they are made of aluminium extrusion with vinyl. Also, they require very little maintenance and are more durable,” the official added.
Apart from highlighting the name of the station, they will also bear highlighted arrows informing passengers about the direction of the train. “The new signage are aesthetically designed which will contribute towards improving the overall look of the stations. The retro-reflective signage will use Aluminium Composite Panel (ACP) material. In addition, the background is opaque due to which the information shared on the panel gets further highlighted,” a metro spokesperson said.
The signage will also display the name of the next and previous stations on the line. The colour of the line will be highlighted if any of these are interchange stations. For example, at Barakhamba the previous station is Mandi House, so the signage has a violet line to show the interchange point. The following station is Rajiv Chowk , so there is a yellow line below the existing line (Blue line).
Pragati Maidan and Barakhamba stations were chosen first as DMRC wanted to try the signage on one underground and one elevated station.
