The travelling woes of thousands of daily commuters between Faridabad and the Capital is likely to lessen over the next couple of months as the Delhi Metro is all set to chug into the fourth satellite town after spreading its wings to Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad.
Trial runs on the Badarpur – YMCA Chowk Metro corridor is likely to begin later this month as construction work for the 13.875 km long elevated corridor has been completed, officials said. The finishing contractors are currently working on giving final touches to the nine stations on the section apart from the Ajronda depot.
“The trial runs of trains on this section are expected to begin within the month of April itself when all parameters of Metro functioning will be checked before the formal beginning of operations,” an official said.
The Badarpur – Faridabad extension of the Delhi Metro is coming up all along National Highway- 2 – with heavy industrial as well as residential settlements on either side. Officials said the while the daily average ridership of the Mandi House – Badarpur section as on March, 2015 was 1.92 lakhs, the ridership is likely to double once the corridor becomes fully operational.
This line will be an extension of the currently operational Violet Line (Line 6) between Mandi House and Badarpur. The same section will expand up to Kashmere Gate on the other side from Mandi House.
Metro officials said since all the stations are off the road stations there is a scope of land available for property development (PD). Hence, all the stations have provisions for property development at the ground level and some area on the concourse level. All necessary provisions like separate entry exists, fire escape, toilets and water supply and electrical connections to the PD area have been made in the station.
“Parking has been provided at stations depending upon the availability of land for station and property development areas as required. The design of stations includes halt and go points for intermediary public transport and private vehicles. Also all the nine stations on the section have been provided with Foot Over Bridges so that commuters can easily reach the stations from the nearby areas,” an official said.
One of major distinctions of this upcoming line is that it has been constructed indigenously by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). All other lines were constructed by foreign firms. Also, unlike other operational lines, U-girders have been used on this line. Officials said the use of U-girders reduces average construction time of erecting girders by one-fourth.
