Delhi Metro’s heritage line all set to open by April end
The Delhi Metro commuters will soon get to ride the ITO-Kashmere Gate section,, also known as the ‘heritage line’, by April end this year.
The Janpath, Mandi House and ITO stations of the Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate corridor, which was originally part of the DMRC’s Phase-3 project, were already been opened for the public (4.2 km section of a total 9.37 km long corridor is operational).
The new heritage corridor will connect Old Delhi areas like Daryaganj, Delhi Gate and Red Fort to the business hub of Janpath in central Delhi.
The legacy of Shahjahanabad will be showcased in four Metro stations in the Shahjahanabad area, using an independent theme for each of the four stations identified for this Phase. The narrative is structured thematically in a manner that each station will offer the viewer a different glimpse of a defining attribute of the Walled City.
“The DMRC has submitted papers pertaining to the 5.17 km Kashmere Gate
Lal Qila Jama Masjid DELHI Delhi Gate long section from ITO to Kashmere Gate for scrutiny to the commissioner for Metro Railway Safety (CMRS). The DMRC has also submitted papers to ISA (Independent Safety Assessor) for safety certification of signalling systems. The documents will be scrutinised first by the CMRS office. Thereafter, they will inspect the line. It will be opened for public after safety certification of the signalling system by ISA,” said a DMRC spokesperson.
The heritage line was earlier given clearance by National Monuments Authority on Feb- ruary 13, 2013.
With the opening of this section, Kashmere Gate will emerge as the biggest interchange station, as passengers travelling on Rithala-Dilshad Garden, Samaipur Badli-HUDA City Center and Faridabad line can change from here instead of going to Rajeev Chowk.
Rajeev Chowk, which caters to over five lakh commuters every day, will be decongested and the DMRC is expecting to reduce it to 3.5 lakh.
According to DMRC, the crisscrossing of Phase-3 lines with the existing lines at many places will lead to emergence of several interchange stations, thus, shortening the distance between two different parts of the city by upto 15 km at some locations.
“Delhi Metro has designed the Phase-3 corridors in such a way that after the completion of all the proposed corridors, there will be alternate Metro lines connecting the same destinations. This will help a great deal in decongesting the corridors as the commuters will have multiple routes to opt for reaching the same destinations,” said a DMRC official.