The Hindu : Front Page : New Metro line all ready and waiting for green signal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 09, 2005

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New Metro line all ready and waiting for green signal

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW DELHI: Having begun full trials on the new Barakhamba-Dwarka section of Delhi Metro's Line III on November 26, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is now eagerly awaiting clearance by the Commissioner of Railway Safety to throw the line open to the public before the year-end.

According to senior DMRC officials, trials are going on as per schedule and the Metro is all geared up to bring nearly 3.5 lakh more passengers into its fold daily with the opening of the new section. While preliminary trials on the section had begun on September 30, the coverage area was extended gradually to the entire stretch right up to Dwarka.

Since the section is 22.9 km long with 22 stations, the DMRC would begin operations with 18 sets of trains of four coaches each. The opening of this section is expected to push up passenger volumes considerably from the present level of nearly 2.85 lakh per day.

The DMRC is upbeat about passenger volumes since this section passes through some of the most congested and commercially important parts of the Capital such as Connaught Place, Karol Bagh, Rajendra Place, Patel Nagar, Kirti Nagar, Rajouri Garden, Tilak Nagar, Janakpuri and Uttam Nagar. Also, since it would reach the doorstep of Dwarka, which has been planned to house a million people on its own, the DMRC is expecting a sharp surge in passenger volumes.

As such, should the number of passengers go up further and touch around a million -- since more people across the Capital would be encouraged to take the Metro because of its increased reach -- officials say the DMRC is also prepared to handle the extra rush. It will make suitable adjustments to its time-table as trains on the modern system are capable of running even at a frequency of two minutes.

Though the incorporation of two new lines -- Barakhamba to Indraprastha and the 6.5 km extension into Dwarka up to Sector 9 -- in Phase I had led to a minor shortage of coaches, officials say 60 coaches have been imported from South Korea, 80 brought in as knock-down units and 100 more built at Bharat Earth Movers Limited in Bangalore. To meet the immediate needs, 40 coaches will be brought in soon.

While trials are still on, the DMRC has requested the Commissioner of Railway Safety to make the statutory inspection in mid-December. "Once the Commissioner has visited us and given us the go-ahead, we would be in a position to decide on the date of inauguration,'' say officials.

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