Kashmere Gate Metro stn to be double the size of Rajiv Chowk
FOOTFALL After PhaseIII expansion, the Kashmere Gate Metro station will provide three interchanges for people travelling between Escorts Mujesar and Jama Masjid, Dilshad GardenRithala and HUDA City CentreSamaypur Badli
The Kashmere Gate Metro station, with three interchanges, will be more than double the size of the busy Rajiv Chowk station in Connaught Place.
When Delhi Metro’s Phase-III project is commissioned, the Rajiv Chowk station, which at present has a footfall of five lakh, will see a reverse trend. Its ridership will see a decline with availability of several alternative routes.
But on the other hand, the Kashmere Gate station, will see a spike in its footfall as people would get to travel between Escorts Mujesar and Jama Masjid, Dilshad Garden-Rithala and HUDA City Centre-Samaypur Badli.
The station will be the first model of Multi-Modal Integration (MMI) in Delhi where three links will be connected at the concourse level.
“Area wise, it is going to be the biggest inter-change station. If we take all the floors, Kashmere Gate will have a total area of about 11,000 square metres, which is almost three times the size of Rajiv Chowk,” said a Metro official.
In order to make the station accessible from all sides, as many as eight entry/exit points are being built. Each of these entry points will have bicycle stands and dedicated bays for intermediate para transit (IPT) such as auto-rickshaws and e-rickshaws. Commuters will get to board autos and feeder buses directly after coming out of the station without having to cross the road.
“The aim is to provide a seamless transit system. We are redesigning the Lothian Road by converting it into an even six-lane street. Table top connection and cobblestoned traffic calmers will be installed to ensure pedestrians can cross the road easily,” the official said. The area already has two subways, which will be revamped by the Public Works Department (PWD).
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will work with the Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (DTIDC) to connect the metro station with Kashmere Gate ISBT.
“The DTIDC will build a ramp that would take passengers from the metro station directly to the first floor of the ISBT. The ramp will be built from Gate number 8 of the metro station,” officials said.
Learning from its experience in the existing metro stations where auto rickshaws and other modes of transport crowd metro premises, the DMRC will not allow any driver to park their three-wheelers anywhere in the lookout for passengers.
“The bays are going to be 8 feet wide and 2 metre long so that autos can’t overtake. They would get to carry passengers on first cum basis and no refusal will be allowed. Provisions will be made for feeder buses,” he said.
All sides of the station will have food courts, kiosks, hawker zones and special sitting areas. Places to sit have been built like it has been done for the ITO and Mandi House stations.
“The rule says that if you plant a tree then you have to keep a free space of 1.5 metres around it. So, we decided to create a sitting area around the soil,” the DMRC said. Besides, three sets of public toilets will be installed at different locations.
At present, the area around the metro station has three bus stops where buses are parked haphazardly, resulting in major traffic jams. All of them will be consolidated into one. Subways like the one between Gate No. 5 and 6 will be opened to even non-metro commuters so that they can cross Lala Hardev Singh Marg.
The new station will be connected to the existing one at four levels -- three at underground levels and one at the elevated concourse level of the existing station. This will be connected to the new concourse with an escalator. Main sources of commuters for interchange