Delhi Metro on Wednesday began trial run for the ITO-Kashmere Gate section on the Violet line.
The 5.17-km-long stretch will be an extension of the current Escort Mujesar-ITO corridor. Metro officials said the line will be opened for public use in two to three months if things go as per plan.
Meanwhile, Delhi Metro will also be starting safety trials on Kalindi Kunj to Kalkaji stretch of the Magenta line from Thursday. A metro official said trials on Indira Gandhi Domestic Terminal to Janakpuri stretch and Delhi Cantt. to Moti Bagh stretch will be started in November while Kalindi Kunj to Botanical Garden stretch will be started in October.
The ITO-Kashmere Gate section will be completely underground and will comprise of four stations — Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, lal Quila and Kashmere Gate. The Kashmere Gate station will become the first ever interchange facility of the Delhi Metro system to provide interconnectivity between three corridors of the network (violet line with red and yellow lines).
“Commuters travelling on the yellow line between Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate will also have another alternative of using the violet line for reaching the same destinations which, in turn, will decongest the system,” metro officials said.
This section, also called the heritage line passes through various historical landmarks of the Old Delhi such as Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid and Red Fort. After the commissioning of this section, residents of Faridabad and various south Delhi areas such as Govindpuri, Kalkaji, Nehru Place, East of Kailash etc will be able to travel directly to Old Delhi and vice versa.
“During the trial runs, the interaction of the Metro train with physical infringements (civil structure) will be checked to ensure that there is no physical blockage during the movement of the train on the track. The entire signaling system will also undergo rigorous testing,” metro officials said.
In addition, the response of the train at different speeds, braking of the train and the interconnection with the Operations Control Centre (OCC) will also be monitored during the trials.