The Hindu : New Delhi News : First junction for Metro

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

First junction for Metro

By Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 22. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has decided to make the Yamuna Depot station in East Delhi the first "junction" on the system to provide for continuous journey on Line 3 to commuters travelling from either of the two lines that would bifurcate from the station and lead up to Anand Vihar and New Ashok Nagar respectively.

The Director (Programme and Planning) of DMRC, C.B.K. Rao, said while initially it was thought that one of these two lines -- which will be constructed in Phase II of the project -- would terminate at Yamuna Depot, the plan was later changed to facilitate uninterrupted travel to commuters on both the lines.

This would mean that like the Indian Railways stations, the Yamuna Depot station would also have changeover facility for trains coming from or going towards both the sides. The trains will therefore come in and leave alternately in both the directions and the passengers of one direction will not have to get off at Yamuna Depot station for carrying on with their journey.

Though terminating the service of one line at the station would have been an easier option as the new one would require a lot of adjustments in the signalling, communication and other systems, the experiment would pave the way for similar people-friendly approach at other points along the system. Incidentally, in the same Phase -- which is now expected to be fully completed by 2009 and would witness the construction of around 55 km of Metro corridors -- Kirti Nagar would emerge as another station on Line 3 from where the tracks would be going in two directions. Of these while the line to Dwarka would be completed next year as it is part of Phase I of the project, the Nangloi line has been proposed in Phase II of the project.

In fact, the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for six lines are under preparation at the moment. While on Line 3, these include the extensions from Yamuna Depot to Anand vihar and New Ashok Nagar and the Kirti Nagar-Nangloi corridor, on Line 2, it includes the northern extension from Delhi University to Jahangirpuri and the southern extension from Central Secretariat to Qutab Minar. The sixth section being studied is from Shahdara to Dilshad Garden.

Following the preparation of the DPRs, the proposal will be submitted to the Delhi Government and the Centre for their approval. As the DPRs are covering a total distance of around 55 km, the DMRC is hopeful of implementing the project by 2009.

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