Mandi House-Central Secretariat line to start on June 26
The much-awaited Central Secretariat to Mandi House route of Delhi Metro will be thrown open to public this week. Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will flag off the train from Mandi House station at 9.30 am on June 26.
“The Central Secretariat-Mandi House section has received the mandatory safety clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) and the line is expected to be opened for commercial services for the public this week itself,” said Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Tuesday.
The Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) had inspected the Mandi House Metro station on June 8 but they taken too much time to give green signal to the line. This is the first time that CMRC has taken too much to Metro project to give clearance.
Inspection is a mandatory procedure for any new Metro line that becomes operational. Tracks, signaling, electrical, customer services, the OHE (overhead electrification) and a host of other services undergo a safety audit by CMRS.
The Mandi House station will reduce the distance to Central Secretariat. At present, the interchange at Rajiv Chowk is 4-km away and after taking into account the time for changing trains, the journey takes about 15 minutes. However, the distance from Central Secretariat to Mandi House via Janpath is only 3km, and the journey will take about 7 minutes, including 2 minutes for changing trains.
The 3-km-long underground corridor consists of two stations — Janpath and Mandi House — where inter-change facility with the currently operational line 3 (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City Centre) is provided.
Earlier, commuters had to change at Rajiv Chowk Metro station to use the Noida-Dwarka line but the opening of this section will provide a huge relief to those travelling on the route to Noida or Dwarka. The section, which is among the first lines under phase III to be thrown open to public, is expected to benefit 70,000 additional commuters.
Shortening of the commuting time between the Violet (Central Secretariat-Badarpur) and Yellow lines with the Mandi House station will benefit all those using these two corridors. Delhi Metro officials said travelling from places like Nehru Place, lajpat Nagar, Saket, AIIMS or Gurgaon to Central and East Delhi will take considerably less time.
Operations at the Mandi House station, which is expected to reduce the rush at Rajiv Chowk station, were to start after March 31, as Delhi Metro had completed work on the station six months early.
At present, Rajiv Chowk station has the heaviest rush as it’s an interchange catering to the Blue (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida/Vaishali) and Yellow (Jahangirpuri-HUDA City Centre) lines. The Mandi House station, which falls after the Janpath station and is part of the extension till Kashmere Gate, will be an interchange catering to the Blue and Badarpur lines. Delhi Metro says trains running between Badarpur and Central Secretariat — a distance of 22-km — are being sent up to Mandi House station, 3-km further away.