Queues of homebound commuters during peak evening hours marked the opening of the much-awaited ITO metro station on Monday.
In a first in the history of Delhi metro as trains are being operated only on a single track, the ITO station witnessed a ridership of up to 700 in just a span of two hours.
The station, which was inaugurated by Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, witnessed people turning up at the station almost an hour ahead of the launch at 6 p.m. The ITO station is a part of the Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate line, commonly known as the Heritage Corridor, which is an extension of the Badarpur-Central Secretariat (Violet) line.
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For 43-year-old Nagender Bahadur Dani and his wife Juna Devi, the 9.37-km Heritage Corridor is a major relief.
Until now, he and his wife, who works at Sanjeevan Hospital in Daryaganj, would board bus no. 405 on the way back to their Badarpur border home after work.
“We leave at the peak hour and it takes us 1.5 hours to reach home by bus. Now that the ITO station is open, a direct line for us, we will save half that time. Besides, it is a big respite from the sweltering heat. Once the Delhi gate station opens, it will be even more convenient,” said Mr. Dani, who works at a Delhi Gate petrol pump.
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A hub of various offices, the centrally-located ITO station is also a sound safety measure for working women, who otherwise had to walk the poorly-lit stretch to Pragati Maidan station.
“We were eagerly waiting for the station to open. Now we don’t have to pool-in cabs or walk down to the Pragati Maidan station in this heat. With a ladies compartment and AC coaches, the metro is the safest mode of transportation for us,” said a group of women working with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
The ITO station is expected to take a major load off the busy Ram Charan Agarwal (ITO) intersection, through which over 1.75 lakh vehicles pass on a daily basis.
Manuj Sharma and his family, who had come to the Passport Seva Kendra at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, opted to take the metro on their way back home to Hauz Khas.
Train services on this 971-metre section are estimated to benefit 22,000 passengers daily to begin with. The number is expected to rise to 32,000 by 2021, thus enhancing the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s annual revenue by Rs.8 crore.
However, this station is the last one to be launched individually before the entire Mandi House-Kashmere Gate 9.37-km Heritage Corridor is commissioned by the end of 2016. Other stations in the corridor include Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Red Fort and Kashmere Gate.