When is the next Aqua Line train arriving? It is anybody’s guess

Noida: The Aqua Line has been functioning for three months now, but display boards showing estimated waiting time for trains are yet to be synced with their actual time of arrival at several stations. These boards usually show a waiting time of anything between 5 and 21 minutes at the beginning and they keep changing multiple times before the train actually arrives.
Several metro users said they were often misled by the display boards and kept sitting on the ground floor of the station waiting for the train to arrive when it was actually on the platform. If a commuter misses a train, the next service is only after 10 minutes during the rush hour.
Another flaw at the stations is that the platform screen doors, which should open only when the train arrives, are always wide open. The purpose of these gates is to prevent people from jumping onto the tracks to commit suicide. But the absence of functioning screen doors not only puts people’s lives at risk, it also raises the chances of suicide attempts.
A visit to four Aqua Line stations showed these shortcomings on Thursday. Around 3pm, a display board at Sector 51 station showed five minutes as waiting time for a train to Depot. The waiting time reduced to three minutes and again increased to four in a few seconds. One display board on the right side was non-functional. At Sector 76 station, the waiting time was 15 minutes, which, too, continued to fluctuate. The boards showing timings of trains from Depot to Noida had similar problems.
At Sector 101, a board displayed 19 minutes for a train to arrive. But within a few seconds, it came down to 15 minutes and then to seven. The train finally came after 12 minutes. The board at Sector 50 station did not reflect any message for five minutes after a train passed at 3.43pm. At 3.49, it displayed a message of a 21-minute wait.
Commuters said that in a fast moving city like Noida and Greater Noida, waiting 20 minutes for a train is “too much”. “People have several engagements and they want fast and smooth transportation services. It is not viable to wait 20 minutes to travel just two-three stations. NMRC should increase the frequency of trains,” said Ashok Singh, a commuter at Sector 51 metro station.
Metro users also demanded that platform screen doors be made functional soon. These doors are a continuous connected barrier, preventing people from moving closer to the platform’s edge before the arrival of the train. These gates are usually synced with the trains’ doors and both open simultaneously. But in the absence of functioning gates, a man had walked down to the tracks at Pari Chowk station last month. He was later rescued.
An NMRC spokesperson said they were looking into the problem of display timings. He said that the screen doors were being tested at present. “We are looking into the complaints about display boards. At present, the testing of screen doors is being conducted during non-working hours. These doors are not synced with the gates of drains. We will make it functional soon once the testing is complete,” the official said.
NMRC had started Aqua Line services on January 25 this year. It recorded a daily ridership of 13,000 on day one, which increased to 17,000 two months later. The services are available from 6am–10pm from Monday to Saturday. On Sundays, trains are available between 8am and 10pm. The trains make 163 trips a day and the frequency is 10 minutes during rush hours. While NMRC claims the number of commuters is increasing, several seats remain vacant in each coach at present.