The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s long-awaited Mandi House to Central Secretariat metro section, that became operational from June 26, has been well received by commuters. An extension of the Violet Line, it has helped in decongesting Rajiv Chowk station as commuters of Badarpur-Central Secretariat line bound for Noida, Vaishali and Dwarka are now able to change trains at Mandi House without changing trains at Central Secretariat and Rajiv Chowk.
Sanjay, a commuter on the Mandi House station, appeared pleased with the opening of the new line: “I save about 20 minutes since I started travelling on this line. Earlier, I had to board from Barakhamba, de-board at Rajiv Chowk, board the Yellow Line to Central Secretariat and then finally take the Violet Line to Jangpura.” Working with a Hindi national daily, Sanjay now takes the metro at Barakhamba Road and directly changes for Jangpura from Mandi House. “This has saved me time. It has become very feasible for me now. The frequency is relatively low, but still saves me time.”
Harinder Singh, who works in an IIT company, is a first time traveller and sounded rather hopeful on saving some travel time. “I heard the Mandi House line is good for people coming from Noida. It takes me an hour 45 minutes to travel from Kashmere Gate to Nehru Place.”
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Expected to benefit 70,000 additional commuters, this line has definitely helped Ankita who works in Greater Kailash. She noted: “Earlier, it took me one and a half hour to reach my work place, but now it takes only one hour.” The frequency of the trains on the Mandi House line is relatively low, four to five minutes, but for the commuters the wait is still worth it.
(With inputs from Vartika Sharma)