New route for Rapid Metro-3, may go up to Gurgaon railway station

GURGAON: The alignment of the Rapid Metro's proposed Phase-3 has been tweaked in view of recent changes made within the proposed extension of the Yellow Line that may connect Gurgaon with Dwarka or the railway station.

According to the transformed plan, the Rapid Metro Phase-3 will get started at Sikanderpur station, which is part of the already operational and acts as the interchange halt for commuters of the Yellow Line. It will then pass NH-Eight at Iffco Chowk and stretch along Sheetla Mata Road earlier than in spite of everything assembly the proposed Yellow Line extension (from Huda City Centre) at Gurgaon railway station.

As TOI reported on Wednesday, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has already submitted feasibility studies on two conceivable routes for the proposed Yellow line extension. Now, the Haryana govt will have to pick from the two instructed routes — one a 12km line from Huda City Centre, lately the terminal station at the Yellow line, to Gurgaon railway station and the other a full-length corridor right up to Dwarka Sector 21, where DMRC's Blue and Airport Express strains converge.

The second one is a 27km path that will also get started at Huda City Centre, pass the freeway at Hero Honda Chowk via Subhash Chowk, head in opposition to the Gurgaon railway station and cross up to Dwarka.

In both circumstances, the proposed Rapid Metro phase-3 will converge with the extended Yellow line at Gurgaon railway station.

"The Rapid Metro authorities have submitted a plan for the phase-3, which is to begin at Sikanderpur and end at Gurgaon railway station. However, I have asked them to submit a plan afresh as the report submitted is a little sketchy," said V Umashankar, further CEO, GMDA.

The Rapid Metro government have refused to touch upon their phase-3 plans at this second.

Earlier, the DMRC had submitted a plan in January 2012 to the then Congress-led Haryana govt to glue Dwarka Sector 21 with Iffco Chowk, via Sector 23 and Udyog Vihar. The path was once intended to be finished through 2016. Then, in line with the DMRC's plan, the Rapid Metro government had ready a path map for its phase-3 (north extension). Back then, it was once proposed that the phase-3 would get started at Moulsari Avenue Rapid Metro station, pass the NH-Eight and move through Udyog Vihar, earlier than intersecting the now-scrapped Dwarka-Iffco Chowk path somewhere close to the Maruti plant on Old Delhi-Gurgaon highway.

However, after chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar rejected the Dwarka-Iffco Chowk path as economically unviable, the Rapid Metro government had to return to the planning stage to organize a contemporary path map.

Sources said there could still be more changes within the freshly submitted phase-3 path map of the Rapid Metro, which has been struggling arduous to draw commuters.

"So far, the two operational Rapid Metro routes (phase 1 and 2) are not getting the desired footfall. The privately built Metro network was looking forward to the Dwarka-Iffco Chowk route to increase the Rapid Metro ridership significantly. Thousands of people, who live in Dwarka and work in Cyber City, Udyog Vihar and other parts of Gurgaon, would have definitely used the interchange station at Maruti to take Rapid Metro," said a senior legitimate of Rapid Metro.

But, with changes in both the Yellow line extension and the phase-3 alignment, the Rapid Metro government would once more need to look for tactics to boost the ridership. "The new plan to link Skanderpur to Gurgaon railway station may see some changes as the Rapid Metro authorities would like to come up with a popular route that will ensure enough commuters," he said.