New Delhi: With all construction and civil work "completed", the long-awaited metro station at the busy ITO area could be thrown open to commuters soon, DMRC's chief today said.
All work of the ITO Metro is complete although this is one arrangement which was decided later. The plan originally was to throw open the line after its full extension to Kashmere Gate, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's Managing Director Mangu Singh said.
ITO station is part of the upcoming 9.37 km-long heritage corridor that will connect Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate.
He said the only issue left to resolve was "reversal" of carriages, as trains going towards the station would also use the same line, similar to the arrangement at the Mandi House station presently.
"Trains would use the same line until the stretch till Kashmere Gate is not thrown open," he said.
Trial run on this section started on December 14 last year and the opening of this stretch, originally scheduled for December this year, has been advanced, since the ITO Metro station will cater to a large number of office goers.
Once operational, around 22,000 passengers are expected to use the station daily and the number is likely to rise to 31,000 by 2021, according to the Detailed Project Report of the DMRC.
Shedding light on Metro's Phase III construction status, that has been plagued by land acquisition issues, Singh said
that "64 per cent of civil work" is complete on that project.
"Jhuggis in 60-70 meters patches in areas like Punjabi Bagh, Mayapuri and Trilokpuri have to be relocated. Government
will have to be ready to relocate them and they will have to be ready to be rehabilitated," Singh said.
