Sarita Vihar- Badarpur Metro starts
Long wait for Metro ends on Faridabad border
TNN, Jan 15, 2011,
NEW DELHI: Metro's first journey out of the Badarpur station on Friday morning at 8am brought a sea change in the commuting experience of those living on the fringes of the capital and in the fast-growing township of Faridabad.
Those living in these areas are hoping that, henceforth, the journey to the capital would be faster and hassle-free. More than 10,000 people boarded the Metro from the Badarpur station on day one itself. Many of the commuters came from Faridabad and were geared up for long-distance travel. A huge number of commuters with luggage were headed for the New and Old Delhi railway stations. Though Metro officials said there were no glitches, commuters claimed that the train did stop for about a minute en route to Badarpur.
The Violet Line which till Thursday was functional between Central Secretariat and Sarita Vihar was extended till its final destination under Phase-II on Friday. The three stations that the Metro touched base with included Mohan Estate, Tughlaqabad and Badarpur. By 6pm, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation reported the footfall for each station as 2,300 (Mohan Estate), 2,950 (Tughlaqabad) and 10,000 (Badarpur).
For a change, the otherwise haggard commuters from the border appeared more than eager to travel. For most of them, the journey to various far-off destinations is set to get shorter by at least an hour.
Uday Chandra Mishra and his wife Shakuntla, residents of Jaitpur, boarded the Metro at Badarpur to go to Central Secretariat and then had to change to the Yellow Line to go to Jehangirpuri. This would make their journey to Narela, which takes about three to four hours, much shorter.
Arvind Kumariya, a telecom professional, his wife Rashmi and daughter Rhythm came from Faridabad to take the Metro from Badarpur and had to further take a link train to Gurgaon. For them, the distance between the NCR townships has been reduced considerably.
"I am going to Noida. I will have to change three lines but then going by Metro is safer and more comfortable," Sonam Singh, a merchandiser and resident of Faridabad said. Sahil Mendiratta, a Class XII student, also from Faridabad, was using the Metro to go to his coaching centre in Punjabi Bagh.
In addition to those travelling long distances, there were first time Metro users as well. Metro officials, mostly women, were deployed on the entry and exit areas of the women's compartment. They were asking men entering the compartment to step out and warning them about the penalty.
Mukesh Kumar and his wife Soni embarked on their first journey in the Metro at Badarpur as they headed for the railway station to catch a train to Bihar. For Rajni, the Metro experience was overwhelming. She came dressed for an outing as her husband explained to her how the token was to be used.
There were families who came all set to enjoy a ride in the Metro on a sunny Friday. Along with her sons, Nikhil and Ajay, aged 10 and 13, respectively, Menakshi Sharma a resident of Badarpur took the metro till the Apollo-Jasola station.
Read more: Long wait for Metro ends on Faridabad border – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Long-wait-for-Metro-ends-on-Faridabad-border/articleshow/7289092.cms#ixzz1B5XZOsbd
Sarita Vihar-Badarpur Metro from tomorrow
The opening of the stretch will be of great benefit to the commuters of south Delhi localities such as Mohan Estate, Tughlakabad and Kalindi Kunj as well as the satellite town of Faridabad in Haryana, which is adjacent to Badarpur.
The footfall of the entire Central Secretariat- Badarpur corridor is expected to increase by another one lakh after the opening of the section.
Currently, the total footfall on the Central Secretariat-Sarita Vihar corridor is approximately 1.25 lakh.
Four additional standard gauge trains with a peak hour frequency of four minutes will be pressed into service, thereby, increasing the total number of trains to 20 for catering to the increased rush on the corridor.
Presently, 16 trains are providing Metro services to the commuters between the Central Secretariat and Sarita Vihar corridor.
With the opening of this stretch, the Central Secretariat – Badarpur corridor will now be 20.16 kilometres long with 16 Metro stations.
The DMRC will now have a total operational Metro network of approximately 161 kilometres with 135 metro stations.