Delhi metro now connects North and East Delhi

Delhi Metro which is creating headlines everyday in India is not only a success, but also an inspirational story. The single most important reason is that it is being executed with extreme dedication and well ahead of proposed deadline. In fact, the completion of Phase - 1 in 2005 was itself a miracle because it was supposed to be opened by 2008.

After connecting South and central Delhi, Metro now has connected North and East. The East line extending upto Dilshad garden (border of Delhi) was opened last year. Now, today the North line to jehangapuri which passes through Kingsway camp, vishwavidyalaya and other stations was open to public. This is enormously going to help students of the university and the surounding areas. This line was opened 10 months well before the deadline while the eastern one was done 6 months before the deadline. WHAT A PACE!!!

This is what Times of India article quotes,

"The 6.36 km long extension will ferry over 1.51 lakh commuters by 2011 and will add five more stations to the existing Line 2 from Central Secretariat to Vishwavidyalaya. The line runs underground till the next station at GTB Nagar, after which the rest of it is elevated. For better crowd management, the entries and exits to all stations will be uni-directional, which means one staircase will be reserved for people to enter while another on the same side for those exiting.

What sets the elevated stations of this new extension apart from other Metro stations in the city is that they are all "hanging'' from the sides of the bridge. The stations have been designed such that they are all 24-metres wide. Of this, nine metres is a full structure that stands tall in the middleof the road, on the central verge and from the ground level itself. On the upper levels, the station building extends about 7.5 metres from each side, with no pillars connecting to the ground. So, when it is seen from the road, it appears like the sides of the building are hanging from the central structure. The changed design leaves scope for widening the road in future as well.

With opening of this extension on the Vishwavidyalaya side and those to Badarpur and Gurgaon from the Central Secretariat side, Line 2 will become the longest line on the Metro. Also, DMRC has plans to extend this line further from Jehangirpuri to Badli."







The pace at which Delhi metro is being aggressively executed is faster than that of Shanghai or any world metro project. As of now, everyday Delhi metro crowd is 8 lakh. Here is a picture comparing Delhi Metro with all other major metros of the world.

If you observe the chart carefully, Mumbai has 61 lakh at any given day using the old local trains, while other major cities have 6 or lakh people. Going by area wise, Hong Kong has 211 km. As of now, Delhi is 75 km. By 2010, it will be 200 km. By 2020, it will be 400 km - largest in the world.

By 2010, Delhi metro aims to cover Haryana, borders of UP etc. And for sure, it will be done well before 2010 just going by the track record.