22.4.12

Rapid rail to run underground in Delhi





The rapid rail network to be laid as long-distance Metro trains connecting Delhi with its major suburbs with limited stops will go underground in the capital. There will be three hubs — Sarai Kale Khan for the Delhi-Meerut corridor, Kashmere Gate for the Panipat stretch and Dhaula Kuan for trains plying between Delhi and Alwar. These three lines totalling over 350km have been taken up as priority by the Union urban development ministry. Though originally there was a plan to converge all three routes at the centre of Delhi, later modifications were made to have different hubs for different stretches for better traffic distribution. But at a meeting held recently under the chairmanship of Delhi lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna, questions were raised whether having different hubs without adequate connectivity to the other terminus would serve any purpose. So, now there is a modified plan, according to which the Alwar-Dhaula Kuan line will get extended up to Kashmere Gate. All stations in Delhi would be underground. The Dhaula Kuan-Sarai Kale Khan-Kashmere Gate stretch will run close to the alignment of Ring Road. 
 Sources said that according to the plan prepared by the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB), there would be limited stops on these corridors for faster mobility. For example, the Meerut-Kale Khan corridor would have only two stops in Delhi —
Anand Vihar and Kale Khan. The two stations would be at a distance of 10 kilometers.However, there could be one or two stations between Dhaula Kuan and Sarai Kale Khan as this line would pass close to AIIMS. Thousands of patients from all parts of NCR visit the medical institute every day. 
 Officials privy to the regional rapid regional rapid 
transit system (RRTS) project said timely take-off of the work would ensure that DMRC was not overburdened with work to extend its network in NCR.  The RRTS project was conceived after an NCRPB study showed how Bulandshahr, Alwar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Sonipat, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Rohtak have been some of the key districts from where the capital gets maximum number of migrants. 

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