New Delhi: From Friday, hop onto a Metro
from Connaught Place in the capital and reach the Millennium
City of Gurgaon in less than an hour.
Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety R K Kardam, who
inspected the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar underground line
yesterday and today, will give his mandatory clearance for the
opening of the corridor tomorrow.
"As far as running of trains is concerned, there is no
problem. Everything is alright. With regard to passenger
amenities, I have suggested some changes to Metro officials,"
Kardam told PTI after the inspection.
He said Delhi Metro officials have promised him that the
changes will be done before the line is opened.
"Hopefully, by tomorrow I will give the go-ahead for the
Metro, after which they are free to open the line anytime," he
said.
DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal said the Central
Secretariat-Qutub Minar line will be inaugurated on Friday by
Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy and Delhi
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at the Udyog Bhavan Metro
station.
It will be thrown open for public use from 3 pm the same
day, they said.
Once the Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar corridor is
opened and integrated with the existing 14.47 km Qutub
Minar-HUDA City Centre line, it would drastically reduce
travel time between Delhi and its satellite city of Gurgaon.
It will take less than an hour for commuters to reach the
Millennium City of Gurgaon from the capital`s shopping hub of
Connaught Place once the line becomes operational, as compared
to at least 90 minutes by road.
The opening of the line will also allow Delhiites to
enjoy a comfort ride from north Delhi to south Delhi and
vice-versa as the Central Secretariat-HUDA City Centre
(Gurgaon) line will be integrated to the existing Central
Secretariat-Jehangirpuri corridor.
The entire 42 km from Jehangirpuri to Gurgaon will be
covered in less than 90 minutes. DMRC will run 60 trains on
the entire stretch at a frequency of 3 minutes.
The Central Secretariat-HUDA City Centre line, built at a
total cost of Rs 3,720 crore, is expected to add over 3.4 lakh
people to the Metro system by 2011.
After the Gurgaon line, DMRC will have only two lines
to complete before the Commonwealth Games in October. They are
Central Secretariat-Badarpur and New Delhi-Airport Express
Lines.
The total operational Metro network will thus become 138
kilometres with 117 stations from Friday.
-PTI
