JOIN USIt’s the first time that the Delhi Metro is behind schedule since it started its operations in 2002. It is facing ‘land acquisition’ issues for the construction of its upcoming Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar corridor, under its phase 3 project.
This 58.596 km-long corridor, also known as the Pink Line, comprises 38 stations, of which 26 are on the elevated section covering 39.4 km and 12 are on the underground stretch spread across 19.117 km. According to Delhi Metro website, 84.78 per cent of the civil work had been completed on the corridor by May this year.
“The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has been facing difficulty in acquiring land in Punjabi Bagh, Mayapuri and Trilokpuri areas. Though the DMRC has got the land at Punjabi Bagh and Mayapuri, it is yet to get possession of land in Trilokpuri. In addition, we had to demolish four piers on NH 24 because of the proposed construction of an express highway on that stretch by NHAI (National Highways Authority of India),” says an
official.
“These unprecedented reasons, which are beyond our purview and control, have affected the completion schedule a little bit. But the work is in progress and we have already completed civil construction work of over 95 per cent of the tunnels and viaducts,” he tells Deccan Herald.
But the residents of Mayur Vihar Phase 1 have been complaining of restrictions due to the ongoing construction. “The construction has been going on for over a year here. The stretch outside the Mayur Vihar Phase 1 station has been seeing restricted vehicular movement, and now the project is delayed,” says Amit Prashar, resident of Mayur
Vihar Phase 1.
“Even traffic police has failed to check the nuisance created by e-rickshaw drivers outside the Metro station. The road itself is narrow and yet they park e-rickshaws on either side of the road causing traffic jams,” he adds.
But the Delhi Metro will make up for this delay by advancing the opening of its Heritage Line in November. This corridor will act as a gift especially for tourists, providing them hassle-free access to ancient monuments so that they can take in a slice of the capital’s past.
The 5.17 kilometre Heritage Line, from ITO to Kashmere Gate, is an extension of the existing Violet Line. The Heritage Line will pass through various historical landmarks of Old Delhi, such as Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid and Red Fort. This entirely underground section comprises four stations – Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Lal Quila and Kashmere Gate.
The Kashmere Gate station will become the first ever interchange facility of the Delhi Metro system to provide interconnectivity between three corridors – Violet with Red and Yellow lines.
People have been waiting for the stretch to become functional. “I love to explore street food at Jama Masjid area, but the traffic plays spoilsport and discourages me to visit the place often. With the opening of the Heritage Line people like me will have direct access to Jama Masjid and Old Delhi areas,” says Mallica Raghav, a private firm employee.
“From now onwards I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a place to park my vehicle for watching a match at Feroz Shah Kotla. I will get down at Delhi Gate station which is located opposite to the Feroz Shah Kotla,” she adds.
Since the Heritage Line provides access to many areas of historical importance, the stations on this stretch have been decorated with panels of artwork depicting the glory of a bygone era.
This corridor will also be a boon for residents of Faridabad and those living in south Delhi areas such as Govindpuri, Kalkaji, Nehru Place and East of Kailash as they will be able to travel directly to Old Delhi.
And travellers on the Yellow Line between Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate will have another option, of using the Violet Line for reaching the same destinations – which, in turn, will decongest the Metro network.
Last week, the Delhi Metro began trial runs on the new ITO to Kashmere Gate section, the `heritage’ section, of the Violet Line. This stretch is an extension of the presently operational Escorts Mujesar (Faridabad) to ITO corridor.
The Heritage Line of Metro would not have become a reality if was not for the 2,000 people in the Walled City who agreed to spend up to a week in hotel rooms, when their own homes had to be evacuated for safety reasons.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had booked nearly 70 hotel rooms to shift these 650 families for brief periods over two years. “These families were shifted as a tunnel had to be dug under their homes,” says an official. The DMRC had got all clearances for the Heritage Line in October, 2013.
The DMRC also repaired “minor faults” with the houses under which drilling machines were carving out a way for the tracks from Delhi Gate to Kashmere Gate stretch.
The Delhi Metro has also begun trial runs on Kalindi Kunj to Kalkaji Mandir section of its Magenta Line using ‘driverless’ trains. “We are confident of starting trial runs on the IGI Airport (Terminal 1) – Janakpuri West section of the Magenta Line in November, and Kalindi Kunj to Botanical Garden stretch in October,” the official says.
The Metro operations have been hampered by the technical snags, which have been on the rise over the past couple of years. But the DMRC does not consider every delay as a technical snag. “We have been trying to minimise such incidents by routine checks of the tracks and overhead electricity wires,” he says.
Airport ride
Since the DMRC took over the operations of the Airport Line, the ridership has increased “significantly”.
“Earlier the average ridership was around 10,000. Now about 40,000 passengers are using the corridor every day,” says the official.
The biggest reason behind this is the reduced fare from New Delhi to IGI Airport, which is just Rs 60 per person. But the DMRC is in the process of revising fares for all corridors. The last revision of fares took place in 2009 when the minimum fare was increased from Rs 6 to Rs 8.
The Delhi Metro has no doubt made far-flung areas more accessible by bringing them on it map. It has also tried to provide last mile connectivity through feeder buses.
These buses have a seating capacity of 18 to 20 people with 10 persons standing. One has to pay Rs 5 to travel up to 4 km in such buses, and it costs Rs 10 to travel up to 10 km. The maximum fare is Rs 15.
But people complain of low frequency of feeder buses. “Sometimes I have to wait for over half an hour to board a bus. It is also difficult to get feeder buses after 9 pm,” said Rohini Gupta, who takes the feeder bus from Shastri Park in east Delhi.
At present, there are over 350 feeder buses shuttling commuters from 6 am to
10 pm.
The feeder buses run at “a frequency of 10 to 15 minutes depending on the traffic”, says the official. “However, if the operator wishes he can operate before or beyond these hours,” he adds.
The DMRC has been planning to induct over 400 new feeder buses in its fleet.
Currently, feeder bus depots are located at Shastri Park, Kohat Enclave, Janakpuri West, Dwarka sector-9, Inderlok, Chhatarpur, Yamuna Bank, Azadpur and Paschim Vihar West.
The Delhi Metro has also got in-principle approval from the city government for its phase 4 construction which aims to build six corridors adding 103 km to the existing network.
Currently, the Delhi Metro spreads across over 210 km and has a ridership of nearly 26 lakh passengers daily.