The long wait for Delhi Metro to reach ITO has finally ended. After months of wait, the Mandi House-ITO Metro line will finally be made open to public from Monday (June 8). The extension of the Violet line of the Delhi Metro has finally got the approval from Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), said a Metro official.
According to Metro officials, while the newly-built Metro corridor will be opened for commercial operations for the public from 6 pm on Monday, the ceremonial flag-off will take place at 4 pm on the same day in the presence of Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu and the Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal.
Earlier this week, the CMRS had finally conducted the safety inspection of the stretch after months of delay and the final report was awaited. DMRC chief spokesperson Anuj Dayal had also said that the section will be made operational soon after the clearance is given by the CMRS. The Metro officials said on Friday that the report has finally arrived and the clearance to open the section between ITO-Mandi House has been received.
Earlier, the operationalisation of this stretch was delayed for months over some technical issues pertaining to the Metro Railway general rules on the issue of single-line operation. The Urban Development Ministry (UDM) amended and notified changes to the Metro Railway General Rules, 2013, to allow operations on single-line sections, thereby paving the way towards operationalising the section.
With this stretch being made operational from Monday, the commuters can directly reach the ITO station via the Violet line of the Delhi Metro. Those travelling on the Yellow line can reach ITO station by changing the Metro just once at Central Secretariat. And those travelling on the Blue line can also reach the ITO station with just one Metro change at Mandi House. Once the whole extension of the Violet line is made operational, it will also coincide with the Red line at Kashmere Gate thereby allowing commuters travelling on Red line to switch to the Violet line by changing the Metro just once at Kashmere Gate.