JOIN USMetro to come closer to your door, ITO station opens soon
The opening of the ITO Metro station later this month will be a New Year’s gift for thousands of office-goers for whom crossing the busy ITO intersection is an everyday challenge.
The Delhi Metro has lined up a few more presents in the months to come. The National Capital Region will come closer to the city with the opening of Faridabad station in May and far-flung Badli in north Delhi will come on the Metro map when the Yellow Line is extended by March.
By the end of the year, some people will be travelling on driver-less trains in compartments with a new, brighter colour scheme.
The ITO station is expected to be a hit.
“I used to get down at Pragati Maidan Station and walk to my office at Bahadurshah Zafar Marg. But one day a car coming from the wrong direction hit me at ITO and since then I stopped crossing the intersection on foot,” says Tanya Nagpal, a private firm employee. “Now I deboard the Metro at Mandi House station and take an autorickshaw to office,” adds Nagpal, who was bedridden for over two months.
The DMRC has already begun the trial runs from Mandi House to ITO on the Central Secretariat - Kashmere Gate corridor of Phase 3.
The Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate is an 9.37 km-long underground stretch which has got six stations – Janpath, Mandi House, ITO, Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid and Lal Quila. A stretch of 3.03 km between Central Secretariat and Mandi House was opened for public in August.
According to DMRC, the construction work for ITO station is almost complete and is expected to be opened for commuter operations after successful trials and mandatory approvals. “The trial run for this section may take some time as we can only carry out trial runs at night after the operations on the Mandi House and Central Secretariat stations are over,” says DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh.
The opening of this stretch, originally scheduled for December, 2015 has been advanced since the ITO Metro station will cater to a large number of office-goers, he adds.
Apart from people commuting to their offices, police headquarter, UGC and Bal Bhawan, the ITO station will also benefit sports enthusiasts who often come to watch football and cricket matches at the Ambedkar and Feroz Shah Kotla stadiums located at a walking distance.
As per the Detailed Project Report, approximately 22,000 passengers are expected to use the ITO Metro station by 2016. The number is likely to cross the 31,000 mark in 2021, says a DMRC spokesperson.
Going farther
In March 2015, the DMRC is scheduled to complete Jahangirpuri–Badli corridor which is an extension of the current Yellow Line – Jahangirpuri to HUDA City Centre. The stretch, a 4.489 km-elevated corridor will have three stations – Badli Mor, Rohini Sector 18 and Samaypur Badli.
The DMRC says the civil work on the corridor is 92.62 per cent complete. It will connect Gurgaon with Jahangirpuri, GT Karnal Road, Rohini, Transport Nagar and Badli.
“My sister stays in Badli and to meet her, I need to take Metro from Huda City Centre and get down at Rohini West and then take a bus,” says Rakesh Singh, a Gurgaon-resident. “But with the opening of the Badli station I won’t have to change any stations. It will be direct Metro and it will save up to an hour,” Singh adds.
According to DMRC, the expansion of the Metro network under phase 3 will bring stations closer to each other in contrast to what they are at present. “The criss-crossing of phase 3 lines with the existing lines at many places will lead to emergence of several interchange stations, thus, shortening the distance between two different parts of the city by up to 15 kilometres at some locations,” says the spokesperson.
“One of the challenges in this project is that the elevated viaduct of the Metro line is crossing the Northern Railway tracks of Delhi-Ambala route between Adarsh Nagar and Badli Metro stations,” he adds.
The Badli Mor station has been designed in such a way that the station structure will have provision for expansion in Phase 4 as well.
“In Phase 4, the station will be an interchange which will connect the presently operational Yellow corridor with Line 7 (Majlish Park-Shiv Vihar) and Line 8 (Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden) which are being constructed as part of Phase 3,” DMRC says.
“Keeping in mind this future possibility, the foundations and structures of the station have been designed in such a way that they will be able to take the load of the two platforms catering to Phase 3 and Phase 4,” it adds.
As per the plan, the first two floors, which are lower than the outer ring road level, will be used for property development. The third floor will have a link to a foot-over-bridge.
Linking NCR
The Delhi Metro is all set to bring the National Capital Region closer to the city. The Badarpur-YMCA Chowk (Faridabad) corridor is targeted for completion in May 2015.
“It will be a great relief for us who travel from Faridabad to Delhi on a regular basis. It will reduce the time of journey up to one-and-a half-hour,” says Amit Sood, a businessman.
“At present, we get down at Badarpur and then take a bus, but if this corridor is functional it will be a great boon for businessmen like me,” he adds.
It is a 13.875 km elevated stretch having a total nine stations – Sarai, NHPC Chowk, Mewala Maharajpur, Sector 28, Badkal Mor, Old Faridabad, Neelam Chowk Ajronda, Bata Chowk and Escorts Mujesar.
The daily ridership on this corridor, which is an extension of the already operational 20.16 km long Central Secretariat-Badarpur stretch, is expected to be 2.14 lakh.
“Once fully operational, Violet Line will be running from Kashmere Gate to YMCA Chowk having a length of 43.40 km with 32 stations. Of these, five will be interchange stations namely, Kashmere Gate, Mandi House, Central Secretariat, Lajpat Nagar and Kalkaji Metro Station,” says DMRC.