Airport Metro to link up with Gurgaon

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro head E Sreedharan had a special announcement to make for the residents of Gurgaon on Delhi Metro Rail Corporation‘s 17th foundation day on Tuesday. The IGI link, which presently covers New Delhi railway station to Dwarka sector 21 via the IGI airport, will be extended up to Gurgaon as part of Phase III.

The 14km extension will bring the Millennium City considerably closer, providing a faster link to reach Gurgaon in just 35 minutes.

That’s not all. The Metro is set to reach out to more areas as urban development minister Kamal Nath asked the DMRC to start work on Phase IV of the Metro network. He also asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to raise the money for the Metro expansion. “I have asked the DDA to raise at least Rs 10,000 crore to be handed over to Delhi Metro. We have to find innovative ways to mobilize funds for building urban transport system,” he said.

The extension of the Airport Express line will be done on the PPP model, said Delhi Metro head Sreedharan. While a final decision hasn’t been taken yet, Sreedharan gave hints that the Reliance Infra-led consortium, which is operating the existing Airport Line, could be awarded the contract.

Sreedharan added that DMRC has got approval for the small stretch connecting Central Secretariat with Mandi House and the work on the line will start in the next 60 days. The contract for the work has already been awarded for the line.

Five new Metro junctions by Sep 10

Long-distance Metro commuters have reasons to cheer. Come September, travelling by the Metro on many important routes may become less time-consuming.

DMRC is expanding its interchange station network. It will add as many as five interchange metro stations to its existing network of four stations for better connectivity.

The new interchange stations will be at Kirti Nagar, Ashok Park Main, Central Secretariat, Dwarka Sector 21 and Airport Line New Delhi Railway Station.

The existing interchange stations are at Kashmiri Gate, Rajiv Chowk, Yamuna Bank and Inderlok Metro Station.

“The five new interchange stations will be ready a month before the Commonwealth Games. We have all necessary permissions from the Central and state governments for the same,” said Anuj Dayal, DMRC spokesperson.

“The new interchange stations have been designed keeping in mind the convenience of commuters as regards time-saving and reducing the distance to be covered. This arrangement will make travel cheaper too,” Dayal added.

The New Delhi station of the Airport Express Line will be an underground station with check-in/check-out facility, frisking, luggage checking and security. It will be a totally dedicated express line.

This 19.2 km stretch will provide smooth connectivity between New Delhi Railway Station, Connaught Place, City Centre and the Airport.

Besides providing interchange facility for commuters travelling on Line 2, it will also provide direct access to the airport for passengers from New Delhi Railway station.

At the Ashok Park main interchange station, metro lines from Inderlok and Kirti Nagar will converge and move towards Mundka, said DMRC officials.

From Ashok Park, trains from Mundka will be diverted to Kirti Nagar and Inderlok.

The interconnection between Kirti Nagar and Ashok Park Main station will be of great relief to commuters of the Dwarka Sub-city and Rithala-Inderlok line.

“This inter-connectivity of around three km will drastically reduce a distance of around 15 to 16 kms covered by passengers while commuting from Dwarka sub-city to Rithala line and vice-versa,” said DMRC officials.

The Dwarka Sector-21 station, connecting the metro link to the IGI Airport will be an integrated station involving passenger interchange between the proposed Airport Express Link and Line 3 of the Delhi Metro from Dwarka to Noida.

According to DMRC, “The metro rail link between Dwarka and Airport is necessary, because, in its absence, Dwarka residents will have to travel approximately nine to 10 kms extra each time they make a trip to the airport.”

Identity crisis: Trains getting ‘lost’ due to Metro network errors

Technical glitches leading to train delays seem to have become a norm on Metro’s Line 3/4 (Dwarka Sector 9- Noida City Centre/Anand Vihar).

While the commuters are frequently hassled, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) maintains the technical problems, though reported on other Lines as well, are more frequent on Line 3/4 owing to its length and ridership size.

Of the 16,700 trips per month on this Line, only 14-15 trips are cancelled due to technical glitches on an average, DMRC officials claimed.

Line 3/4, the longest line in the Metro network, has a passenger load of the other three Metro Lines put together.The Blue Line, as it is called, has often faced the ire of commuters due to frequent delays and overcrowding at stations and on trains.

On June 1, and then briefly on June 2, train services were disrupted on the Line due to a technical snag, leaving commuters stranded for over half an hour at the peak hour between 10 am and 4 pm.

After the incidents, the DMRC said network failure led to the trains losing their identification numbers and then getting stranded on the tracks. “There was a hardware failure due to which the computer network didn’t work and the trains lost their ID numbers. The ID numbers are crucial for trains because that determines their destination. So when this number is lost they don’t know which direction to head for, Anand Vihar or Noida,” said Raj Kumar, Director (Operations), DMRC.

“The trains then had to be taken over on manual mode. There is also a provision of fallback automation. Though in the case it took barely 20 minutes to switch systems, the impact was felt for a much longer time. This is because during these 20 minutes, other trains on the route were held up causing bunching on the line,” Kumar said.

“Line 3 is already the longest line and has the highest ridership with around 5.5 lakh passengers per day. When even a few trains are delayed, the stations and trains get further congested. Commuters start getting impatient and try to get onto trains that are already packed. The doors are obstructed and some commuters also press the passenger alarm button, which results in a further delay,” he added.

Metro officials called the glitches minor, saying with the expanding network, the system is bound to face such problems.

THE BLUE LINE
Length
Line 3: Dwarka Sector 9-Noida City Centre — 47 km

Line 4: Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar — 6.16 km

Trips per month
16,700

Ridership
5.5 lakh per day (approx)