The Hindu : Front Page : Delhi Metro railway all set for an extended run now

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Friday, Oct 27, 2006
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Delhi Metro railway all set for an extended run now

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

NEW ARRIVAL: Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at the newly built Mandi House railway station of Delhi Metro on Thursday. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA.

NEW DELHI: The first trial runs of trains on the brand new 2.81-km Barakhamba Road-Indraprastha extension of Delhi Metro Line 3 this past week have gone on smoothly and successfully. On Thursday, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit undertook an inspection of the section that is to be thrown open to the public come November, just ahead of the India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan.

Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the new project, Ms. Dikshit said it would go a long way in easing the traffic problems of the Capital and providing it with a safe, fast and comfortable mode of transport.

She hoped that the new section would also help ease congestion on the city roads during the India International Trade Fair as it would provide lakhs of people an easy mode of travel right up to Pragati Maidan. Delhi Metro, in fact, has made special arrangements to facilitate the movement of visitors to the annual fair that begins on November 14.

The Pragati Maidan metro station will have 10 ticket operating machines that would be increased to 16 during the days of the fair depending on the number of commuters. The station has been equipped with 16 automatic fare collection gates and has two entry and exit points to facilitate quick movement of people. A temporary 300-metre-long walkway is also being constructed from behind the Pragati Maidan station so that visitors can get right up to Hall 12 of Pragati Maidan directly without having to use the busy Mathura Road.

Speaking about the progress of Phase II of the project, now that the Phase I extension has also been completed with this new section, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Managing Director E. Sreedharan said the Corporation was hopeful of completing the line up to Badarpur on the Delhi-Faridabad border in this phase.

He refuted reports that the proposed New Delhi railway station-Delhi Airport high-speed metro corridor is not "viable''.

Approval from the empowered Group of Ministers for it "is expected soon as this line too would be constructed ahead of the Commonwealth Games-2010", he said.

Asked whether the proposed extension of Delhi Metro to Noida in UP had got stalled, Mr. Sreedharan said that was not the case.

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