Overhaul to increase footfall at 15 interchange stations

Fifteen Metro stations that together cater to over two lakh commuters daily, will see a 13 lakh additional footfall a day once they become interchange stations, as part of the Delhi Metro’s Phase III of construction.

Fifteen Metro stations that together cater to over two lakh commuters daily, will see a 13 lakh additional footfall a day once they become interchange stations, as part of the Delhi Metro’s Phase III of construction.

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“At a time that the city urgently needs a multi-modal transport system, the Delhi Metro will fulfil the need to a certain extent after completion of the Phase III of expansion. The expansion started five months ago and is scheduled to be completed in 2016,” said a senior Delhi Metro official.

“Adequate interchange facilities will increase people’s dependency on the Metro as they will be able to go to any part of the city and even NCR by changing trains at interchange stations,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Stations that will be upgraded include Azadpur, Netaji Subhash Place, Rajouri Garden, INA, Lajpat Nagar, Mayur Vihar 1, Anand Vihar, Karkarduma and Welcome on the Mukundpur-Shiv Vihar corridor, Janakpuri West, Hauz Khas, Kalkaji Mandir and Botanical Garden on the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor, Mandi House and Kashmere Gate on the Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate corridor.

Currently, over two lakh commuters use these stations daily. A traffic survey in these areas indicated that footfall at the stations would see a rise of over 12 lakh once they were converted into interchange stations.

Rush at Metro’s biggest and busiest interchange station, Rajiv Chowk, will also become a thing of the past as Rajouri Garden, Netaji Subhas Place, Mandi House, Hauz Khas and Kalkaji Mandir interchange stations will help decongest it by at least 50% in 2016, sources said.

Azadpur, INA and Hauz Khas interchange stations will provide connectivity with Line 2 (Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon), Netaji Subhash Place and Welcome with Line 1 (Dilshad Garden-Rithala), Rajouri Garden, Mayur Vihar 1, Janakpuri West and Botanical Garden interchange stations with Line 3 (Dwarka Sector 21-Noida), Anand Vihar and Kakarduma with Line 4 (Dwarka Sector 21-Vaishali), Kalkaji Mandir, Lajpat Nagar and Mandi House interchange stations with Line 6 (Central Secretariat-Badarpur) and Kashmere Gate with both Lines 1 and 2.