Metro Phase-III to save travel time

The expansion of the Delhi Metro network under its Phase-III project will bring many Metro stations closer to each other in contrast to what they are at present.

The crisscrossing of Phase-three lines with the existing lines at many places will lead to emergence of several inter-change stations, thus, shortening the distance between two different locations by up to 15 km at some locations.

According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, once Phase-III becomes operational by 2016, two new lines will be added to the Metro network — Line-seven Majlis Park (Mukundpur) to Shiv Vihar and Line-8, Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden.

Then, there will 13 more inter-change hubs across the city. This includes Hauz Khas, INA, Rajouri Garden, Mayur Vihar phase-one, Azadpur, Netaji Subhash Place, Lajpat Nagar, Anand Vihar, Karkarduma, Welcome, Kalkaji Mandir, Botanical Garden and Mandi House.

“The new inter-change stations will also help in decongesting the currently operational inter-change stations.

After completion of Phase-three, Delhi Metro’s network will have 22 inter-change stations,” a DMRC spokesperson said.

At present, there are nine inter-change stations — Rajiv Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Central Secretariat, Inderlok, Ashok Park (main), Yamuna Bank, Dwarka Sec 21, New Delhi and Kirti Nagar.

“With the coming up of inter-change stations at Karkarduma and Anand Vihar, the present day distance of these stations from nearest Metro station, which is Welcome Metro station, will come down drastically to 4.34 km and 5.49 km from the 19.26 km and 20.32 km respectively,” the spokesperson added.

Similarly, with the coming up of other inter-change
stations of Phase-III, commuters will be able to change trains without going to the present inter-change stations like Rajiv Chowk and Central Secretariat.

Hauz Khas Metro station will come up as an inter-change between Jahangirpuri to Huda City Centre (Line two) and the Janakpuri West–Botanical Garden corridor (Line eight).
Passengers coming from Gurgaon on Line two will be able to get down at Hauz Khas and take a direct train to Kalkaji. Earlier, for the same route the inter-change facility was available only at Central Secretariat station.

“The distance to be travelled was about 18.6 km. With Line eight connectivity in Phase-III, the distance between Hauz Khas and Kalkaji will be just 5.45 km. The travelling time between Gurgaon and Noida will be brought down by at least 30 minutes,” he added.

Rajouri Garden inter-change between Dwarka to Noida City Centre and Majlis Park (Mukundpur)–Shiv Vihar corridor will help Dwarka (west Delhi) residents, who want to travel to South Delhi.

Dwarka residents will be able to reach places like Sarojini Nagar, South Extension and Lajpat Nagar, faster as the travel time will reduce. Earlier to visit such places, Rajiv Chowk was the inter-change station.