With the Union Urban Development Ministry amending rules to allow operations on single line sections, Metro Rail services between Mandi House and ITO stations in Delhi will begin very soon. Sources said operation on this stretch may start before June 1. The amendments to the Metro Railway General Rules, 2013 will help Metro rail services in the national Capital and Chennai.
The construction work on the single line — Mandi House to ITO section — was completed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in January this year. But operations on this 971-metre section could not be started as safety inspections could not be carried out as per provisions of the Metro Railway General Rules following which the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) refused permission, informed a DMRC official.
The UD Ministry held several rounds of discussions with the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), CMRS, DMRC, Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Civil Aviation —which is the controlling authority of CRS — and experts to resolve the issue.
Finally, at an inter-agency meeting chaired by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, it was decided to amend the 2013 rules to enable operations on single-line metro sections pending commissioning of the other line.
The amendments were carried out in consultation with the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of law & Justice, officials said. The Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety would soon carry out safety inspection and metro services between Mandi House and ITO would be started immediately thereafter. The move is expected to benefit 22,000 passengers daily to begin with and 31,000 by 2021 enhancing DMRC’s annual revenue by Rs8 crore.
The amendments to the rules also benefit Chennai Metro enabling operations on the 2.88-km section between Ashok Nagar and Alandur after safety inspection, thereby facilitating metro connectivity between Koyambedu and Alandur (7.22 km). This will be the first section of Chennai Metro to become operational.
It may be recalled that on December 18, 2014, the trial run on the much-awaited Mandi House to ITO station of the Delhi Metro’s ‘Heritage line’ was flagged off by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). The green flag for the beginning of the trial run on the underground stretch of the Phase III route between the Mandi House and ITO stations was waved off by Singh. The section is part of its 9.37 km-long Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate corridor of Delhi Metro’s Phase III network.
“The construction work for this underground stretch has been completed now and is expected to be opened for commuter operations after successful trials and mandatory approvals,” said a Delhi Metro statement. The opening of the stretch, originally scheduled for December 2015 was advanced since the ITO Metro station will “cater to a large number of office-goers.”