The heart of the city’s public transport system has finally opened its eyes to the needs of the visually challenged.

Bright yellow tactile tiles with protrusions that can be felt with a walking stick or one’s foot are being laid at four Metro stations to guide the visually challenged from the entrance to the ticket counters and then to the platforms.

Four stations on the old route — MG Road, Chandni Chowk, Park Street and Maidan — have been chosen for the first phase of the project.

In a city that has few facilities for the differently abled, the initiative to make commuting more convenient for people with impaired vision is being touted as the first such step in the transport sector.

“Tactile tiles are the best way to help the visually challenged find their way. We are laying such titles from the staircase to the ticket counters and all the way down to the platforms. Hopefully, this will fulfil a long-standing wish of people with impaired vision,” said an official of the civil engineering department.

The tiles are coloured yellow to enable those with partial vision to spot the tactile tracks. “Even the white lines on the edge of the platforms are being replaced with yellow ones, which is now the norm for public transport across the world. Yellow is the easiest colour to spot for people with partial vision,” an official said.

Kanchan Gaba, the secretary of the National Association for Blind, said the initiative had come not a day too soon. “I don’t know how much work has actually been done but tactile tiles would definitely help the visually challenged enter and exit the Metro stations safely without anybody’s help,” she said.

Work is “almost over” at Chandni Chowk while Park Street and Maidan should be ready in a few weeks. “We will start work at the remaining stations soon. All stations along the southern extension already have tactile pathways for the visually challenged,” a senior official said.

Metro Railway also intends replacing the mirror-polished slabs on the staircases and sides of the platforms with flame-finished granite slabs to keep people from slipping and falling while jostling for space during rush hour. “Granite slabs are definitely safer for mass transit stations,” an engineer said.