Come academic year 2016, students at Delhi University’s South Campus will not be able to use the excuse of bad traffic and poor connectivity for being late to class.
The South Campus of the university is not as accessible for students as the North Campus, which has had Metro connectivity for around 10 years now. But, with a Metro station under construction in front of Sri Venkateswara College, students will be able to travel between the two campuses in just 35 minutes.
“The South Campus station is placed at a very strategic location. We are expecting a ridership of 20,000 daily,” DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said on Friday. He added that the Vishwavidalaya station, which caters to the North Campus, has a daily footfall of 25,000.
The station is located on the Ring Road, at the turning of Benito Juarez Marg. It will benefit students of South Campus and Venkateswara, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma, Ram Lal Anand and Motilal Nehru colleges. Students of the nearby Jesus and Mary College as well as residents of Satya Niketan will also benefit. It will also help passengers going to Dhaula Kuan for taking inter-State buses.
“The South Campus station of the Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar line is already 70 per cent ready. The civil work should be done by August. We will open the road underneath to traffic in two or three months,” a DMRC official at the station site said.
At 56 km, this is the longest line of the Metro and will connect the western and eastern ends of the city. The line will go over the Airport Line near Dhaula Kuan. “It will be crossing the Airport Express Line at a height of 23 m, which is the highest in Delhi,” the Metro official said, adding that it was a challenging project.
The station will have two entry/exit points with escalators and elevators. The nearby footover bridge will also be connected to the station so pedestrians don’t have to go down to street level. The station will also have a rain harvesting system.
To make sure that this stretch from Moti Bagh to Delhi Cantonment is made on time, the DMRC has, this week, employed another launcher, which is used to put precast spans in place. “By June 2015, we should be able to start running trains on the stretch for trials,” the DMRC official said.
The official said the construction of the station will leave the Outer Ring Road near Moti Bagh wider than before.
“The Ring Road is supposed to be 14 m, but due to encroachment near Moti Bagh it is only 11 m at one point. We have used cantilevers and increased the road width by 2 m,” he said.
“So now as soon as the barricades are opened, you will get a 13-m-wide road,” he added. Besides providing extra right of way, the Delhi Metro will be providing a dedicated lane for motorists on the Venkateswara College side to alight at the station. Space permitting, similar provision is being made at all the Phase-III stations.
South Campus students said the station would make commuting easier. A post-graduate student of Political Science Ambica Chhibber said: “Reaching for class in the morning is not easy. I have to take the Metro to AIIMS and then take an auto-rickshaw to the campus. I end up spending a lot of money and getting stuck in traffic.”
