The Hindu : Front Page : On fourth birthday, Delhi Metro looks ahead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 26, 2006
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Front Page

On fourth birthday, Delhi Metro looks ahead

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

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NEW DELHI : With the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation having undertaken the extremely challenging task of completing a hundred kilometres of Metro Rail corridors within the next 42 months to meet the target of their completion ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010, senior staff led by Managing Director E. Sreedharan used the weekend and Christmas holidays for an intensive field inspection of the under-construction network as well as the proposed new lines.

Happily the inspection coincided with Delhi Metro's birthday; it was on December 25 four years ago that the first line of Delhi Metro was thrown open to the public.

Accompanied by Director (Projects) C. B. K. Rao, Director (Electrical) Satish Kumar and Director (Finance) R. N. Joshi, Mr. Sreedharan inspected the Central Secretariat-Qutab Minar network alignment and also the proposed new Central Secretariat-Badarpur line.

Constant monitoring

The inspections assume significance as Delhi Metro would be constructing over 100 km of corridors in the National Capital Region by 2010 and this would require a constant monitoring of the works. Stating that such a mammoth Metro Rail construction project had never been undertaken in such a short span of time anywhere else in the world, the DMRC said what made it all the more challenging was that the work would also involve tackling urban odds like diversion of huge electricity lines, intricate telephone cables, water and sewage drains and ensuring the very minimum cutting of trees.

Ecological balance

It said the removal of trees would be accompanied by corresponding transplantation and compensatory forestation for maintaining the Capital's ecological balance. The DMRC is planting 10 trees for every tree cut due to the project.

According to the DMRC spokesperson, the Metro Rail projects in hand at present cover over 100 km and will provide connectivity to Jahangirpuri, Anand Vihar, Mundka, Gurgaon and Dilshad Garden. While the first of these lines -- to Dilshad Garden -- will be commissioned by December 2008, the rest will be completed by July 2010.

Construction activity

This construction activity also includes a high-speed Metro Rail link from the city centre to Indira Gandhi International Airport. This would take the passengers across the long distance in just 16 minutes, thus making Delhi an extremely advanced city in terms of urban transportation.

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