Faridabad gets Metro corridor today

Bijendra Ahlawat

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Tribune News Service

Faridabad, September 5

Delayed by over four months, Metro Rail connectivity to Faridabad will become a reality tomorrow after its formal inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 13.87-km-long route to connect Badarpur of Delhi with YMCA Chowk of Faridabad was initially expected to be functional by March this year. The project was taken up in February 2012.

The trial run on the route was held on April 12, but the formal opening took around four months, which is perhaps one of the longest delays by any standard, claim sources in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

The DMRC began work on this Rs 2,500-crore project around three-and-a-half years ago. The target was to complete the project within three years. The corridor is completely elevated and will have nine stations between Badarpur (Delhi) and Escorts-Mujesar, near YMCA Chowk, here. The corridor will make commuting between Faridabad and Delhi easy with the line extending to Kashmere Gate on the other side.

“The corridor will be further extended to Ballabgarh in near future. The viaducts on the entire alignment are primarily based on U-girders technology,” said Himanshu Sharma, Metro Spokesperson.

Thirty-seven lifts and 45 escalators have been installed at the nine state-of-the-art stations. The lifts will be operated using environment friendly regenerative braking technology in which the kinetic energy of an elevator or lift is converted into electrical energy and directed back into the power supply line.

As around 2 lakh commuters will make use of the facility daily, the DMRC will operate six-coach trains on this corridor. The total capacity of one six-coach train is around 1,500 passengers at present, claim officials.

The nine metro stations falling on the route are Sarai, NHPC Chowk, Mewla Maharajpur, Sector- 28, Badkhal, Old Faridabad, Ajronda, Bata (Sector 12) and Escorts-Mujesar. Two more stations—NCB and Ballabgarh—will be added to this route in 2017. An additional expenditure of Rs 564 crore will be borne by the Haryana Government for the extension of route. The state has already contributed Rs 1,600 crore for the main (Badarpur to Escorts-Mujesar station) project.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today reviewed arrangements for the Prime Minister’s visit.

Three mega projects in Sonepat district to get rolling on Sept 18

Sonepat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stones of three mega projects-construction of Kundli- Gaziabad-Palwal (KGP) Expressway, restarting the construction of Kundli-Maneshar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway and widening of the National Highway No-1 from Delhi to Panipat-at Kundli in Sonepat district on September 18. 

Ramesh Kaushik, BJP MP from Sonepat, said this while addressing a press conference here on Saturday.

   “The Prime Minister will also address a public meeting on the premises of Rajiv Gandhi Education City, near Rai," he added. The KGP Expressway project would cost around Rs 5,100 crore. It would connect five national highways, including the NH-1 at Kundli, NH-58 at Muradnagar, NH-24 at Dhasna, NH-91 at Dadri and the NH-2 at Palwal. The expressway would pass through Sonepat and Palwal districts of Haryana and Baghpat, Gaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar districts of Uttar Pradesh,” Kaushik said. 

   The widening of the 70-km stretch of the NH-1 from Mukarba Chawk in Delhi to Panipat would cost around Rs 2,200 crore. The National Highway Authority of India has entrusted a private company with the task of completing the project. Besides widening the NH-1 to 8 lanes, 2-lane service roads would also be constructed on both sides of the highway. — BS Malik