Trial run starts on Heritage Line

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday kicked off its the phase-III expansion with the trial run on ITO-Kashmere Gate section, also known

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday kicked off its the phase-III expansion with the trial run on ITO-Kashmere Gate section, also known as the Heritage Line.

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It will be followed by a trial run on the Kalindi Kunj to Kalkaji section of the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden line on Thursday.

“We are hoping to start trial runs between Janakpuri and Delhi airport by November. We plan to start trial run between Delhi Cantonment to Moti Bagh (part of the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar line) in November,” said Anuj Dayal, DMRC spokesperson.

Delhi Metro chief Mangu Singh said the trial run on the ITO-Kashmere Gate section will continue for three months before it is opened for the public. “Ninety-five per cent of the work of on phase-III is done and issues related to land have been resolved,” said Singh.

The 5.17-kilometre ITO-Kashmere Gate section of Delhi Metro’s violet line is an extension of the Escorts Mujesar (Faridabad)–ITO corridor. This underground section will have four stations – Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid, Lal Quila and Kashmere Gate.

With the opening of this section, Kashmere Gate will become first interchange station to link three corridors of the network (violet line with red and yellow lines).

During the trial runs, the officials will check if there are any blockages in the train movement or on the track. The signal system will undergo rigorous testing.

The response of the train at different speeds, brakes and the connection with the Operations Control Centre (OCC) will be monitored during the trials. The track system and the Over Head Electrification (OHE) will also be checked repeatedly during the trials.

The Heritage Line passes through various historical landmarks of the Delhi such as Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid and Red Fort. After the commissioning of this section, residents of Faridabad and various south Delhi areas such as Govindpuri, Kalkaji, Nehru Place and East of Kailash will be able to travel directly to Old Delhi and vice-versa.

Commuters travelling on the yellow line between Central Secretariat and Kashmere Gate will also be able to use the violet line for reaching the same destinations. Officials said this will help decongest the system.

“Since the corridor passes through areas of great historical importance, the stations have been decorated with panels and artworks depicting the glory of the bygone era. During construction also, adequate care was taken to ensure that the monuments were not harmed by metro construction,” said the spokesperson.

The Heritage Line is only a slice of Delhi Metro’s grand plans over the next year when it throws open Phase III, adding 15 stations and 4.7 million passengers to the city’s transport lifeline.

When Phase III ends in December, Delhi Metro would have added 142.7km of new lines to its existing 190-km network, surpassing mass-transit systems in Moscow, Seoul and Tokyo and be the world’s fourth-largest metro network.