New Delhi: A 3.3 km rail stretch connecting Kirti Nagar to Ashok Park was thrown open on Saturday, slashing down fares and travelling time for many daily passengers and bringing the curtains down on Delhi Metro`s phase II.
The stretch that was part of the line 5 Mundka to Inderlok standard gauge was formally flagged off by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, this morning before being opened for public this afternoon.
The section, which has three stations, will provide inter-connectivity between Line-1 (Dilshad Garden to Rithala) and Line-3/4 (Dwarka Sec-21 to Noida City Centre/Vaishali).
The Ashok Park Main and Kirti Nagar Metro stations will now act as interchange stations to go towards Line-1 and Line-3/4 respectively.
Consequently this link that connects three corridors will reduce the fares as well as cut down the travelling time between many destinations of Line 1 (Dilshad Garden - Rithala), Line 3 (Dwarka Sector 21 - NOIDA City Centre) and Line 5 (Inderlok - Mundka).
Besides, Satguru Ram Singh Marg Metro station, the third on this line will connect Ring railway`s Patel Nagar station with the Delhi Metro network.
A total of 15 trains will be running on this line with a peak hour frequency of about four minutes.
Once the line is opened, commuters of Line 3 will easily travel to a destination on Line 1 and 5 without going to Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate and vice versa, thus saving time as well as money.
DMRC officials said, due to this link, the cost of travel will come down by more than 50 per cent in some instances.
Another major benefit of this link will be that it will help decongest the heavily busy Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate interchange stations as the commuters travelling between destinations on lines 1, 3 and 5 will no longer have to come to these stations to change trains.
The stretch is also the last of Delhi Metro`s phase II, which connects over 100 km of the capital`s stretch.
PTI
