Delhi Metro becomes member of 'Nova' benchmarking group

New Delhi, Feb 12 (UNI) Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has become a member of the Nova benchmarking group, the exclusive consortium of medium sized Metro systems from around the world.

DMRC had applied for membership six months ago, which was granted late last month, a Delhi Metro statement said.

Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Lisbon, Milan, Montreal, Naples, Newcastle, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile, Singapore, Taipei and Toronto were the other 14 members of the group.

Membership of Nova would enable Delhi Metro to rate itself against international benchmarks and pave the way for further technology transfer for DMRC.

The Nova benchmarking process used 31 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which measured the performance of the organisation through six categories: background, asset utilisation, efficiency, reliability/ service quality, safety and financial performance.

The benchmarking group members also undertook a variety of detailed case studies each year in wide-ranging but focused areas of metro management.

Many studies identified best practices in operations and management while other offered key insights that could drive strategy and policy and provide information to support better dialogue with city governments, regulators and other stakeholders.

The Delhi Metro currently had a 65.1 km network that was used by over half a million commuters every day. About 1,100 train trips operated every day with a punctuality of about 100 per cent.

Construction was currently under way for another 120 km of track length to be added to the network in Phase-II of the project, which was expected to be completed by 2010.

After commissioning of Phase-II, DMRC also hoped to become a member of CoMET (Community of Metros), a consortium of the world's largest urban railways.

UNI