If all goes well, residents of east Delhi and neighbouring Ghaziabad can hope to enjoy Metro comfort by the end of this week with the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) set to inspect the Yamuna Bank—Anand Vihar line on Monday.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials said the 6.17 km fully elevated Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar line will be thrown open to the public two to three days after the CMRS gives the green signal. The section was scheduled to be opened by December 31.
“The Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety will inspect the line on Monday. Once he gives the no objection certificate, we will open the line in two-three days,” a senior DMRC official said.
The official said the DMRC is ready to inaugurate the line once it gets the certificate as the organisation now has adequate number of trains to deploy on the route.
Trial runs on the section, the fourth line which will be added to the new age transport network, have been successful and the DMRC did not encounter any problem, the official said.
The section is expected to draw huge crowds given the number of people who depend on private mode of transport to reach the national capital. This will be the first section to be opened in 2010, which will witness as many as five new lines being added to the national capital’s metro network.
As Anand Vihar is located on the border of Uttar Pradesh, people from Ghaziabad and other parts of that state may also use the Metro to come to Delhi.
The Anand Vihar Metro station has been planned as a major integrating terminal that will bring together three modes of public transport, namely the Metro, the Indian Railways and the Inter - State Bus Terminus (ISBT).
Though DMRC projects that over 1 lakh more people will start travelling by this line in the modern transport system by 2011, it is expected to be much higher with Noida line being an example.
The line, which was opened in November, is a big hit among the commuters and the passenger rush exceeded even Metro’s expectations.
The Yamuna Bank - Anand Vihar line primarily passes through residential and institutional areas in east Delhi. Out of 6.17 km, 3.7 km of the alignment is along Vikas Marg or Vikas Marg Extension and the rest is aligned off the road.
There are five Metro stations along this elevated stretch - Laxmi Nagar, Nirman Vihar, Preet Vihar, Karkarduma and Anand Vihar.
