NEW DELHI: The Dhansa Bus Stand station of Delhi Metro’s Grey Line is going to be its first ever underground station with an entire underground floor for parking. The parking facility will be integrated with the main station area and commuters will be able to park their vehicles and take the elevators and escalators directly to the station concourse.
Anuj Dayal, executive director (corporate communications), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, said on Thursday that the station had been designed as a four-level underground structure. It will have the platform at the bottom level at an approximate depth of 18 metres, topped by the concourse and then an entire floor for parking above it with the roof level at the surface level.
“The parking lot will have space for around 110 cars and 185 two wheelers,” revealed Dayal, adding that DMRC would retain the possibility of property development at the ground level in the future. There will be one elevator at the centre of the parking lot, apart from two staircases and two escalators, each connecting directly with the unpaid area of the concourse below. Two entry and exit facilities will connect the parking lot with both the surface above and the platform below.
“In the office hours, when the passengers are in a hurry to board the train as early as possible, the location of the parking lot at such close proximity to the concourse will be a major benefit,” reasoned Dayal. “Local residents will also benefit because the adjoining areas are extremely congested and have limited space for parking.”
Dayal also said that work on the 1.8-km Najafgarh-Dhansa Bus Stand section was almost complete and efforts are being made to have it opened sometime later this month after complying with statutory requirements.
“With the completion of this section, the Dwarka-Dhansa Bus Stand corridor will be 6.1-km long with four stations. This extension will immensely benefit the residents of interior areas around Najafgarh,” the DMRC executive director said.
Delhi Metro currently operates parking lots in around 100 stations. “The Dhansa Bus Stand parking facility can be considered a major design-based improvement since no other underground metro station in the network has such a facility. Currently, the Hindon River station of the Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda) has a basement parking facility though it is an elevated station,” said Dayal. The New Delhi station of the standalone Airport Express Line has a multilevel parking lot above the station.
Grey Line, Delhi Metro’s shortest corridor, connects Najafgarh with the rest of the city, thanks to the interchange facility with the Blue Line (Dwarka-Vaishali/Noida Electronic City) at Dwarka. There are three trains deployed on the corridor and total travel time on this section will be six minutes and 20 seconds.
The extension to Dhansa Bus Stand was scheduled to open by December 2020, but work suffered due to the Covid outbreak. Construction resumed only as part of the lockdown relaxation. The 1.8-km stretch with one station was then slated to be completed by May, but some work remained to be completed. According to sources, the final safety inspection of the section is likely to take place on July 10.
