New underground Metro station at Central Secretariat

Monday , Dec 21, 2009

By September next year, the existing Metro station at Central Secretariat with double up to cater to the existing Line 2 which will beextended to Gurgaon and a new Metro line to Badarpur. To provide seamless connectivity and interchange between the two lines, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has created a new underground station beside the existing one and the two are going to be interlinked at the platform as well as concourse (ticketing) levels.

For all those travelling on the Jehangirpuri-Central Secretariat-Gurgaon and Central Secretariat-Badarpur Metro lines, the station will act as an interchange point where passengers can switch lines. For better connectivity, all passengers entering this underground Metro station will find a common concourse from where they can purchase tokens/smart cards and move towards the platform of their destination using lifts, escalators or staircases.

"Direct access will be provided between the platforms of Line 2 (Jehangirpuri to Gurgaon) and Line 6 (Central Secretariat to Badarpur) so that passengers from Jehangirpuri side wanting to travel towards Badarpur have to walk a short distance on the same level to change trains. Other passengers will have to come up to the concourse level before changing platforms,'' explained a DMRC spokesperson.

This is the first time an operational Metro station has been expanded. "The task is challenging as construction activities are being carried out without causing inconvenience to commuters. It was also very complex for the engineers to excavate a tunnel at a depth of approximately 16m running through the high-security Lutyens' Zone,'' the spokesperson added.

The new underground station has been constructed using the cut and cover technique. It has a height of 5.75m and width of 5.2m, stretching up to the Udyog Bhawan underground Metro station. The length of each platform is 140m with a width of 6.5m. The station will have five entry/exit points, which will be common for the old and new stations.

Parking at Central Secretariat station will also be restored by September 2010, after the Badarpur line becomes operational. The Gurgaon line is scheduled to start by June next year. The passenger subway at Gate No 4 will also be reopened at the same time.

The construction work of the Metro station for Line 6 started in September 2007 and over 75% of the civil work has been completed. The new Central Secretariat-Badarpur corridor will have 15 stations covering a distance of 20.16km. The expected daily traffic on this corridor is 3,60,122 by 2011.

Original news source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/New-underground-Metro-station-at-C-Sec-/articleshow/5359968.cms