ITO Metro station thrown open

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 8

Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu today flagged off a train from the ITO Metro station to Mandi House in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Transport Minister Satendra Jain, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan and BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi.

Flagging off the train this evening, Naidu said ITO is a congested area the Metro Rail would carry the major load of the traffic. The ITO-Mandi House section is part of the rail track from Badarpur to Kashmere Gate. The same line will go to Faridabad. The DMRC is doing the construction work to extend the line to Kashmere Gate. The Metro will get Rs 8 crore as revenue per annum from this corridor.

The Chief Minister asked the DMRC to increase the number of coaches in the trains and increase frequency of the train movement to make the journey comfortable. People prefer Metro train instead of a bus. The DMRC is a joint project of the Union and Delhi governments. Its network should be strengthened to improve the transport services, he said. 

Single-line extension (ITO-Mandi House) of the DMRC is the first in the history of Delhi Metro, which also caused delay in opening this section. The Urban Development Ministry amended the Metro Railway General Rules, 2013 to allow operations on single-line sections, paving the way for CMRS inspection and its eventual launch.

Train services on this 971-metre section is estimated to benefit 22,000 passengers daily. 

The station on the Violet Line is also expected to take load off the busy ITO intersection, which according to an estimate is used by over 1.75 lakh vehicles every day.

The station that was decked up on the occasion would also showcase the multi-layered history of the ITO area stretching from the Supreme Court to the ruins of Ferozshah Kotla.

ITO is the last station to be launched individually before the entire Mandi House-Kashmere Gate, 9.37 km 'heritage corridor', is commissioned by the end of 2016. Other stations in the corridor include Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Red Fort and Kashmere Gate.

Now, passengers from ITO would be able to access the Blue Line (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida City Centre/Vaishali) by taking a ride to Mandi House or Yellow Line (Huda City Centre to Jahangirpuri) from the Central Secretariat station, thus bringing the area closer to the residents of South and East Delhi.