The Delhi Metro railway will finally reach Badarpur on Friday. The Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) gave the consent for opening of the Sarita Vihar-Badarpur stretch on Thursday.
According to DMRC officials, the Sarita Vihar-Badarpur section will be thrown open to the public from 8 a.m. “The statutory safety clearance necessary for opening the line was accorded by CMRS R. K. Kardam on Thursday. The section will now be open from Friday morning,” said a DMRC official.
The five kilometre stretch comprises three elevated stations -- Mohan Estate, Tughlakabad and Badarpur. “With the opening of the stretch, commuters of South Delhi localities such as Mohan Estate, Tughlakabad, Kalindi Kunj as well as the satellite town of Faridabad in Haryana, which is just adjacent to Badarpur will be benefited,” said the official.
The footfall of the entire Central Secretariat (CTST)-Badarpur corridor is expected to increase by another one lakh after the opening of the Sarita Vihar-Badarpur section. At present, the total footfall on the Central Secretariat-Sarita Vihar corridor is about 1.25 lakh.
“Four additional standard gauge trains with a peak hour frequency of four minutes will be pressed into service, thereby, increasing the total number of trains to 20 for catering to the increased rush on the corridor. At present, 16 trains are providing metro services to the commuters between the Central Secretariat and Sarita Vihar corridor,” the official said.
With the opening of this stretch, the Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor will now be 20.16 km long with 16 metro stations. The DMRC will now have a total operational metro network of about 161 km with 135 metro stations.
“While services on the first day will commence from 8 a.m., the regular commencement timings will be from 6 a.m. onwards from Saturday,” the official said.
