The Hindu : Front Page : New Delhi Metro line by mid-November

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Wednesday, Sep 13, 2006
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New Delhi Metro line by mid-November

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

A bit late in coming, but it will still be a record of sorts

NEW VISTAS: Now from Barakhamba Road to Mandi House and beyond. PHOTO: V. V. KRISHNAN

NEW DELHI: Though it is slightly late by its own high standards, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would in a record period of just 26 months be commissioning movement of trains on the new 2.81-km Barakhamba-Indraprastha section of its Line 3 before the annually-awaited India International Trade Fair begins on November 14 this year.

The new Delhi Metro section is expected to considerably ease vehicular movement around Pragati Maidan during the fortnight-long fair as it would provide people easy access to the exhibition venue from all over the Capital. Instead of getting caught in endless traffic jams around Pragati Maidan, people will be able to travel to the fair in the air-conditioned comfort of fast metro trains.

The construction of the section -- which has one underground station at Mandi House and two overhead ones at Pragati Maidan and Indraprastha -- had started in August 2004. According to DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal, construction of underground railway sections worldwide takes about four years and elevated ones around three years but the Corporation had set itself a tight time-frame of just about 21 months to complete this corridor. ``The original June 2006 target was actually unrealistic,'' he says.

The new section, which rises from around seven metres underground to a height of over 20 metres over the short distance, is now all set for inauguration in November just before the mammoth trade fair. While the civil work on and along the tracks is almost complete, only the bridge that is being constructed over the Indian Railways line between Pragati Maidan and Indraprastha stations remains to be completed.

``This was an extremely difficult bridge to construct as it spanned nearly 93 metres and the train traffic was not stopped for a moment because these lines provide the main link to eastern India from Delhi,'' explain senior Delhi Metro officials. With a train passing on these lines every few minutes, most of the construction activity took place at night.

Barring this bridge, which would be completed this month, the tracks have been laid all across the section and even the electrification work is almost complete. Trial runs on the section will start by October-end and thereafter the track will be inspected by the Commissioner for Railway Safety.

As of now DMRC is operating 23 trains on Line 3 and since it would not be getting any more train sets till mid-2007 there will not be any increase in their numbers.

Also, the peak frequency of trains is expected to remain at five minutes as at present even after the new section is thrown open to traffic.

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