Metro finally at Badarpur (TOI 14 Jan 2011)

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After a delay of three months, Metro will finally run its full course on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK


Two inspections and three months later, the last few stations under Phase II of the Delhi Metro network will finally open on Friday. Confirming the nod from the commissioner metro rail safety (CMRS) on Thursday, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said that the three stations on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line — Mohan Estate, Tughlaqabad and Badarpur — will open to the public at 8am on Friday. Said a DMRC spokesperson, “Footfall on the entire Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor is expected to increase by another one lakh after the opening of the Sarita Vihar-Badarpur section.”

The opening comes after months of uncertainty. The last stretch of the Violet line — as line 6 is called — had been awaiting the CMRS green signal for some time. Scheduled to be opened before the Commonwealth Games, the line got approval only till Sarita Vihar station, with the CMRS shooting down the opening of last three stations. Even after the last inspection, conducted in December, the CMRS had asked for more clarity on certain issues. All that is over now. On Friday, as the Delhi Metro reaches Faridabad, the ridership on the line is expected to double. The maximum cache of commuters is expected to be from Badarpur as it connects the second biggest NCR town, Faridabad, with Delhi.

While the trains will start running at 8am on Friday, the regular schedule will be followed from Saturday, January 15, when trains will start at 6am, added DMRC officials.

With trains running at a frequency of four minutes, the line will see a jump in ridership. To date, the ridership on line 6 has averaged around 1.25 lakh, which is expected to go up by a lakh with the opening of the three stations. According to DMRC officials, four new trains will be added to the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line, bringing the total to 20. The 5-km Sarita Vihar-Badarpur stretch will benefit residents of colonies along the way such as Mohan Estate, Tughlaqabad, Kalindi Kunj, etc. It is, however, the residents of Faridabad who are expected to gain the most from the Metro network expansion.

With the extension of line 6, DMRC will also hope to address the glitches that have been plaguing other populated lines — Dwarka-Noida/Anand Vihar and Jehangirpuri-HUDA City Centre. Both lines have seen a large jump in ridership as well as attendant problems and technical snags apart from over-crowding. With line 6 witnessing glitches some months ago, DMRC will be hoping that it doesn’t become the norm as it has on other lines.

Incidentally, the Violet line had a dismal inauguration, with glitches being experienced. Officials, however, say that with 20 trains running on the line, crowding should not be an issue. It has also brought in expert teams from abroad to address the problems that have been plaguing the system. According to DMRC officials, the solutions offered by these expert teams have already been implemented in part. Senior DMRC officials on Wednesday had assured that no more snags were to be expected henceforth.


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DELAY Scheduled to open before the Games, it failed, as portion was incomplete

I: Residents of Mohan Estate, Tughlakabad, Kalindi Kunj and also the satellite town of Faridabad in Haryana would finally be blessed by Metro connectivity. Nearing four months after missing deadline, the Delhi Metro services will finally start benefiting lakhs of commuters of these areas from Friday.

The five kilometre stretch between Sarita Vihar and Badarpur of the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor that has three stations, and could not be made operational along with the rest of the corridor before the Commonwealth Games due to incompletion of work, it is finally going to be operational from Friday, said a Delhi Metro Rail Corporations (DMRC) spokesperson.

“The stretch will be opened for the public from 8 am on Friday. On Thursday we received the safety clearance for the stretch from commissioner for metro rail safety (CMRS), RK Kardam,“ DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said, adding, “While services on the first day (Friday) will commence from 8 am, the regular commencement timings will be from 6 am onwards from Saturday,“ said Dayal.

With the opening of the stretch, footfall of the entire Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor is expected to increase by at least one lakh. Currently, the total footfall on the Central Secretariat-Sarita Vihar corridor is approximately 1.25 lakh said DMRC officials.

However, as per the detailed project report (DPR) the entire section is expected to benefit over 3.60 lakh passengers per day by the end of 2011.

To cater to the additional passengers, DMRC will press four additional standard gauge trains on the corridor with a peak hour frequency of four minutes Presently 16 trains are functional on the stretch that caters to passengers between Central Secretariat and Sarita Vihar.


Phase 3 Metro expansions by July

Delhi Metro is likely to start expansions under proposed phase 3 by July this year. Once started, it will take maximum five years to complete the project that got the in principal nod from Delhi government.
According to DMRC officials they had started ground works including topographic survey, geotechnical survey and station planning etc immediately after the proposed expansion of Metro network under phase 3 got government clearance.

“For major works we will invite global tenders while for smaller works we will invite tenders from national players,“ Mangu Singh, director (works) told HT.

He said that DMRC is planning to start construction works by July this year.
However, he said that so far there is no clarity on the funding structure for the R21,468 crore project.
It was learnt that DMRC would invite global tenders for works on rolling stock, signaling system, electrical equipments, track-laying among others, while the corporation would invite tender applications from national players for civil constructions.

A senior officer of DMRC, on condition of anonymity said: “We are already in the final stage of ground surveys for the proposed Central Secretariat to Red Fort corridor and Jahangir Puri to Badli corridor.“

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