Heritage Line takes some pressure off Rajiv Chowk

Three-line interchange at Kashmere Gate station sees footfall of 3.5 lakh

NEW DELHI 29/05/2017: Crowded metro train on blue line after the opening of Heritage line ,in New Delhi on Monday. Photo Sandeep Saxena

A day after it was thrown open to the public, the Heritage Line of the Delhi Metro faced its first test on Monday when it handled the weekday crowd.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said that the Kashmere Gate metro station, which has now become an interchange station for three Metro lines — Yellow, Red and Violet, saw a footfall of 3.5 lakh on Monday.

Footfall at Rajiv Chowk, at present the busiest interchange station, was around 5.5 lakh. The footfall, however, is likely to gradually shift towards Kashmere Gate in the coming days.

Largest station

The Kashmere Gate station is now the largest station in terms of total area, covering around 11,000 square metres, and is likely to attract around six lakh commuters daily.

“I did not know that my journey would become easy with the new line. I did not want to try the new route while coming to office, but many of my colleagues did and reached office around 30 minutes early,” said Subhash Vishwanathan, who was travelling from Central Secretariat.

The new line also came as a boon to 38-year-old Dharampal Singh who can now go directly to his office in Kashmere Gate from Lajpat Nagar on the Violet Line.

Till Friday, he had to change the line from Central Secretariat to reach his destination.

“I was really looking forward to this line becoming operational as it really cuts short my travel time. I can now take the direct line from Lajpat Nagar and reach Kashmere Gate. Most passengers de-boarded at ITO so I travelled the next few stations sitting, which generally never happens,” Mr. Singh said.

Many, however, were not aware of the new line or the route. “I did not pay attention that the line has been extended. Maybe, while returning I will take the new line,” said Sulochana Tripathy, a commuter at ITO.

Footfall to increase

Metro officials explained that the Kashmere Gate station will gradually see a spike in its footfall as people will get to travel between Escorts Mujesar and Red Fort (Violet Line), Dilshad Garden-Rithala (Red Line) and HUDA City Centre-Samaypur Badli (Yellow Line).