In less than a year from now, the first corridor of Delhi Metro’s phase-III — Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate — will become functional. According to Delhi Metro, the line is expected to be open for public from February next year. This will bring an end to the persistent traffic chaos in areas like ITO, Mandi House and Delhi Gate.
Opening of the corridor will also significantly decongest the Rajiv Chowk Metro station as Mandi House station on the corridor will be developed into an interchange hub. As per the DMRC estimates, the Rajiv Chowk station receives a footfall of over five lakh. The new 9.4 km long corridor will also provide direct Metro connectivity to areas like ITO, Delhi Gate and Daryaganj that were so far deprived for the facility.
According to officials, trial run on the corridor is likely to begin by this year end and depending on the results a decision would be taken on the possible date of opening.
Senior officials of the DMRC, however, maintained that the decision to start this corridor first has been taken keeping in view the massive traffic congestion along the route of the corridor. The corridor will have six stations between Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate stations namely Janpath, Mandi House, ITO, Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid and lal Qila. A senior official of the DMRC said that work on this corridor is in full swing and will be completed on time. The project was earlier scheduled to be opened by September 2013 but repeated delays were caused due to objections raised by the ASI.
Officials said a significant time lapsed in getting sanctions from multiple agencies as a number of protected monuments and heritage structures fall along the route of the new corridor. The 35,000 crore Phase-III project which envisages seven corridors will cover the length of 139.35 kilometre and according to plan, it was scheduled to be completed by 2016.