In a major relief to the thousands of commuters bound to South Delhi, operations on the Central Secretariat to Mandi House stretch are expected to start by March next year. With Mandi House Metro station expected to be thrown open to the public by first quarter of the next year, the station will reduce the burden on the Rajiv Chowk station by as much as 40 per cent, by providing commuters a direct interchange to the Badarpur line. According to the Delhi Metro, with the work progressing at a normal place, the operations on the stretch are expected to begin six months before the deadline of September 2014.

The three km stretch will comprise two Metro stations at Janpath and Mandi House and is part of the upcoming Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate corridor. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chief Mangu Singh said, “The Central Secretariat to Mandi House section which was originally scheduled to be opened in September 2014 is expected to be opened by March 2014, almost six months in advance, in order to decongest the Rajiv Chowk station. The upcoming interchange station at Mandi House will bring a major relief to the commuters as a chunk of the crowd will be diverted to the interchange station at Mandi House from the busy Rajiv Chowk station.”

The Mandi House station will be the interchange point for line 6 (Central Secretariat-Badarpur), line 2 (Jehangirpuri-HUDA City Centre) and line 3 (Noida City Centre-Dwarka, Sector 21). “The civil construction work on the stretch is almost complete and the electrification and the laying of the tracks will be initiated soon. Tunnelling for both up line and down line tunnels from Chelmsford Club (Central Secretariat) to Janpath has been completed while the tunnelling from Mandi House to Janpath is in progress,” added Singh.