The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation on Sunday announced its plans to construct an underground subway near the upcoming Moti Bagh Metro station on the Ring Road. According to a statement released by the DMRC, the project was being undertaken to facilitate the station entry of passengers coming from different residential areas surrounding the metro station.
The construction work for the subway is expected to start from coming May and will be completed in nine months.
“The under-construction Moti Bagh Metro station on the Majlis Park–Shiv Vihar corridor of Phase 3 will be located on the intersection of Ring Road and Rao Tularam Marg. This pedestrian subway will facilitate the entry of passengers who will come from the other side of the Ring Road,” read the statement.
Given the existing conditions on the road, the Moti Bagh Station is being constructed parallel to the Moti Bagh Flyover due to which no entry/exit point could be provided for the commuters on the New Moti Bagh side. This, said the DMRC, was the main reason that the subway had to be planned.
Relief to commutersThe subway will be integrated with the Moti Bagh metro station through lifts and staircases. As a result, commuters coming to the station from the other side of the Ring Road such as New Moti Bagh and Shanti Path will not have to cross the busy road above.
Not just the metro commuters, general pedestrians who wish to cross the Ring Road from the busy Rao Tularam Marg-Ring Road intersection to the opposite side of Ring Road, would also benefit from the subway. “As there is no other subway or foot over bridge for pedestrians in the vicinity, this facility will be of great benefit for them,” read the statement.
The 70-meter-long subway will be constructed using the ‘Box Pushing’ technology with which vertical excavation or large-scale digging is not required. This method is much faster than the conventional cut-and-cover technology used generally for the construction of subways. In the case of this particular subway, had the DMRC opted for the conventional cut-and-cover technology, then it would have had to excavate the road above causing great inconvenience to the movement of traffic.