Gurgaon will see its first Metro train today

That day is not far when Gurgaon residents can keep their cars at home and simply take a Metro to their desired destination. Delhi Metro’s first train will chug into Gurgaon as trial runs on the new line from the train depot at Sultanpur to Huda City Centre metro station begin on Friday. The trial run is a signal that the line will be opened for the public soon, giving residents of the satellite township a reason to rejoice. ‘‘Trial runs on the 7.05-km stretch in Gurgaon will be flagged off by Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday. This is the first step towards fullfledged Metro operations in Haryana,’’ a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson said. The stretch forms part of the 27-km long Central Secretariat-Gurgaon metro line, which will connect with the existing Line 2 (Central Secretariat to Jehangirpuri).DMRC plans to open the Gurgaon line in two parts — first Qutub to Huda City Centre and later the remaining portion from Central Secretariat to Qutub. The opening of the Gurgaon portion will provide intra-city connectivity to residents of the satellite town, where people rely on private cars in the absence of any mode of public transport. Once the entire stretch is operational, Gurgaon residents will get direct connectivity to important locations in Delhi such as AIIMS, IIT, DU (North Campus), New Delhi Railway Stations, and Kashmere Gate ISBT and besides getting indirect Metro connectivity to the Delhi railway station and other parts of Delhi and Noida. ‘‘The travel time between Connaught Place (Rajiv Chowk) and HUDA City Centre will reduce from one-andhalf hours by road to about 50 minutes by Metro. The total travel time from Jahangirpuri to HUDA City Centre will be approximately 90 minutes once this line is fully operational. The expected daily passenger traffic on Qutub Minar-HUDA City Centre metro corridor is 1.6 lakh commuters in 2011,’’ the spokesperson said. The Haryana portion has been completed at a cost of Rs 688 crore, the bulk of which was provided by the Haryana government. All metro stations in Gurgaon will have parking facilities. The AFC gates have slots where faulty tokens will be returned back to the commuters. All the metro stations have lifts and escalators on both sides for easier access and will double up as foot overbridges even for non-Metro users.