One of the Delhi Metro’s important stations (also one of its earliest stations to be opened) is the one at Patel Chowk. Here, above the platforms but within the station’s premises, is the Metro Museum, a small two-gallery museum that focuses on the work of the Delhi Metro.
The museum includes a set of models of different trains used by the Metro; it also has a model (along with a detailed description of how it works) of a tunnel-boring machine, as well as a cross-section of a machine. There are full-size mannequins sporting the different uniforms worn by DMRC’s workers, a tool kit used for maintenance, and the different types of helmets worn. There is a history of the DMRC and the phases in which work has been carried out to take the NCR’s Metro network to where it is now.
For me, one of the most interesting bits about the museum was a section on ‘interesting facts about the Delhi Metro’: how many escalators across the network (1,000), the deepest station (Hauz Khas, 30 mt), the highest point (Dhaula Kuan, as tall as a 7-storey building), tallest escalator in India (Janakpuri West), how many times the Metro’s train doors open and close in a day (25 lakh), and so on. This was really fascinating and impressive.
There’s no entrance fee for the Museum, which is basically just a series of exhibits on either side of the passage leading to the exit gates. However, since it is within the area between the exit gates and the platforms, you do need to have a smart card or token in order to view it.