3.3-km track to reduce 2-hr ride to few minutes

The travel time from Rajouri Garden to Paschim Vihar, a 5-km distance which took nearly two hours by Metro, will soon be reduced to a few minutes thanks to a 3.3-km track between Kirti Nagar on Line 3 and Inderlok on Line 1.

The travel time from Rajouri Garden to Paschim Vihar, a 5-km distance which took nearly two hours by Metro, will soon be reduced to a few minutes thanks to a 3.3-km track between Kirti Nagar on Line 3 and Inderlok on Line 1. The line is scheduled to open in June.

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Commuters will also be able to skip the congested stations at Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate while travelling between northwest and west Delhi.

Residents of Rajouri Garden, Uttam Nagar, Dwarka, Pitampura, Rohini, Rithala and Paschim Vihar among other places of west, southwest and northwest districts who now commute by autos, buses or cars to avoid the long and time consuming metro ride, will benefit once the stretch between the two lines is operational.

“This stretch is expected to increase Metro ridership by at least one lakh. The existing average footfall on Line 5 is 80,000,” said a DMRC spokesperson.

"At present, it takes nearly two hours to commute from these areas to west and southwest Delhi. This will reduce travel time by an hour and will attract those who travel by bus, auto or cars," said a Delhi Metro official. "Construction work is almost over and we will start the trial runs on the 3.3-km stretch in May," said a DMRC spokesperson.

The elevated stretch will have two stations—one at Satguru Ram Singh Marg and the other at Kirti Nagar. Ashok Park Main and Kirti Nagar Metro stations will work as interchange stations for Lines 1 and 3.

“An extension of Line 5, it will give us a huge breather as it will increase footfall on Line 5 and reduce pressure at Rajiv Chowk and Kashmere Gate,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC.

This corridor was not in the original sanctioned plan of Phase 2. Delhi Metro planned the construction of this stretch during the construction of Line 5. The construction for this stretch started in 2008.

This stretch will be the last corridor of the existing network and DMRC plans to open it before it starts construction work under proposed phase 3.