NEW DELHI: Across the Delhi Metro network, the distance between two consecutive stations is usually between one or two kilometres, with the stations mostly located close to residential or commercial areas. The Phase IV network of Delhi Metro will, however, see a gap of more than 2km between two stations in quite a few locations.
While most of these ‘gaps’ are on the Majlis Park-Maujpur extension of the Pink Line (Majlis Park-Shiv Vihar), the longest distance between stations is on the upcoming Silver Line (Aerocity-Tughlaqabad).
“On the under-construction Line 10 in Phase IV, the distance between the elevated Sangam Vihar Tigri metro station and the underground Maa Anandmayee Marg metro station is approximately 3.7km,” a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said that the alignment of the standalone corridor was initially through the Mehrauli-Badarpur Road. A realignment was carried out to avoid the protected zones around Tughlakabad Fort, Ghiyasuddin’s Tomb, Adilabad Fort and Nai-ka-Kot.
“DMRC makes all possible efforts to locate its stations in the vicinity of residential and commercial areas so that maximum people can get full benefit of the alignment,” the spokesperson said. “While the inter-station gap is 1-2km, in Phase IV, meticulous planning has been done to ensure services to the maximum possible people residing in the area.”
Though the 3.7-km gap between two stations is quite long, the Sangam Vihar Tigri- Maa Anandmayee Marg section was 0.6km shorter than the longest distance between two stations in the network. On the 9.7-km Lajpat Nagar-Mayur Vihar Pocket 1 section of the Pink Line, the gap between Mayur Vihar Phase 1 and Hazrat Nizamuddin stations is 4.3km. The two metro stations connecting the residential area of Mayur Vihar with the third busiest railway station in the city are located on opposite sides of River Yamuna. While Delhi Metro corridors cross the river at four different locations, nowhere is the gap so long.
Apart from this river crossing, the Red Line goes across the river between Kashmere Gate and Shastri Park stations, the Blue Line between Indraprastha and Yamuna Bank stations and the Magenta Line between Kalindi Kunj and Okhla Bird Sanctuary metro stations. Delhi Metro is all set to cross the river for the fifth time between the Sonia Vihar and Soorghat stations on the upcoming extension of the Pink Line.
After the Silver Line segment, the longest distance between two Phase IV stations of the Pink Line are Burari and Majlis Park (2.6km) and Soorghat and Jagatpur (2.4km). Similarly spaced stations on the Magenta Line extension are Bhalswa and Majlis Park (2.3km) and Mukundpur and Bhalswa (2km). The DMRC spokesperson, however, said that the distances might be different after completion of the project.
