The Hindu : New Delhi News : Secretariat to DU in 18 minutes flat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 01, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Secretariat to DU in 18 minutes flat

Staff Reporter

Metro to gallop distance in record time

NEW DELHI: The opening of the new 7-km-long Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate section of the underground corridor of Delhi Metro this coming Saturday will reduce travel time from Central Secretariat to Delhi University -- a distance of 9.713 km -- to mere 18 minutes and 30 seconds.

For someone starting the journey from Central Secretariat station, which will have red Agra stone at all the entrances to help them gel well with the surrounding buildings of Lutyens' Delhi, the first halt will be Patel Chowk, just 786 metres away. The journey between these two stations will take just about 90 seconds.

Patel Chowk, incidentally, will boast of the biggest car parking lot among all the stations coming up on the new section. Here an area of around 1,000 square metres has been kept aside for the purpose and will be readied for parking in three months after removal of the existing site office.

Stations at a km distance

All the other stations on the section - Connaught Place, New Delhi, Chawri Bazar, Delhi Main and Kashmere Gate -- are located at a distance of about a kilometre from each other and so the travel time from one to the next would be about two minutes each.

As such the 7-km distance between Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate will be covered in just about 14 minutes. This would include 30-second stoppage time at each station.

Along the way, the stations have been designed differently and will have different artwork -- which will still take some time to complete -- to provide each one of them an individual identity commensurate with the surrounding area.

Most beautiful station

Rajiv Chowk or Connaught Place will be the most beautiful of all the stations. While the Central Park where it has come up will be restored to its original form, the park will now be landscaped and have a small water body.

Expected to become the busiest station when the east-west Barakhamba-Dwarka Line 3 that passes through it also becomes operational this coming December, this station will have plenty of natural light coming in and will also use a large amount of glass to remain in consonance with the colonnade and pillar columns of Connaught Place. And the artwork here will reflect the rich cultural and historical past of the city by providing shades of old, new and modern Delhi.

Direct access

Beyond Rajiv Chowk, while New Delhi station will provide commuters direct access to the Paharganj side as well through a dedicated pedestrian overbridge, the Chawri Bazaar station will take them right into the heart of the Walled City of Delhi and in close proximity to ancient markets like Nai Sadak, Chandni Chowk, Sadar Bazar and Fatehpuri. Also, it will provide direct access to some of the best-known eating outlets in the Capital.

The Delhi Main station with its connectivity to the Old Delhi railway station though a subway will also provide Metro commuters direct access to and from this major destination point.

The main hub

The most important station for the time being will be Kashmere Gate which will now become the intersection point for the already operational Shahdara-Rithala Line 1 and the underground Line 2. The station -- which boasts of the highest escalator in the country -- will greet the Metro commuters through artwork on the concourse level which will be a "celebration of colours'' through use of acrylic oils, chemical finish, canvas, industrial wax, metallic mirrors and "frame and prop-up'' materials.

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