The Delhi Metro on Sunday opened its gates to the Walled City, launching the much awaited 5.7-kilometre-long Heritage Line that runs between Mandi House and Kashmere Gate. The line was flagged off by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu through video conference at the Metro Bhawan.
Delhi’s CM congratulated the people and called the Metro not only the city’s pride but also the pride of the entire nation. “I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Centre for always helping out and cooperating with anything related to the metro,” Mr. Kejriwal said, speaking on the occasion.
The launch event was also attended by Union Minister of Science & Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
Train every 3 mins
The line will now expand the Violet Line — Badarpur to ITO — to four more stations, Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Red Fort and Kashmere Gate. The trains in this line will be available every 3 minutes and 20 seconds.
After launching the first metro train from Kashmere Gate towards ITO, Mr. Naidu stressed on the importance of encouraging Delhiites to switch to public transport. “Every member of a household owns a car, and this is becoming an unhealthy trend. Our focus will now be to stress on public transport. Along with this, cycling should also be encouraged. We will be working towards a well-connected network of cycle tracks in Delhi,” Mr. Naidu said. He also said that the Delhi Metro is now among the most well-maintained networks in the world.
“I have travelled in the metro facilities in many other cities of the world and I can proudly say that the metro facility of Delhi is better than most of them,” Mr. Naidu said. A key facility made available by the Heritage line is payment made by e-wallets. The stations have special gates installed, which enable entry of commuters using the e-wallet services.
3-D installations
All of the stations in the line have been decorated with exclusive 3-D art installations that narrate the rich tales of the landmark’s past. The design, conceptualised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), consists of a range of iconic old and new photographs and maps of the Walled City.
Moments after the stations were thrown open to the public on Sunday, people were seen clicking selfies with the art installations inside the metro stations. Many took this as an opportunity to spend their day off in popular heritage spots of old Delhi with family.
‘Travel made easy’
Sudheer Yadav had come with his family of 12 to spend the day at the Red Fort. He said the opening of the metro had made his travel from Rohini easy. “My children love to visit monuments but reaching Old Delhi is a task in itself. Driving till here was never a possibility because of the narrow roads and the crowd. We took a rickshaw to reach the metro station at Rohini and from there it will be an air-conditioned ride till Red Fort,” he said.
Riddhi Bajpayee (20), student of Delhi University and a resident of Gali number-5 near Jama Masjid, was also excited by how easy her daily commute will be from college.
“I would miss most of the outings with my friends because my house was far away. Though the nearest metro now is Chawri Bazar, my parents do not allow me to take a rickshaw and come home after dark. The exit gate of the Jama Masjid station is a stone’s throw away from my house and I am excited to have such great connectivity,” she said. The DMRC has estimated that the daily ridership of this line is likely to go up by at least 90,000.
